Conspiracy
by Tuffet37
Summary: AU where the turians are kept as pets and considered little more than smart animals. Spectre agent Shepard, by chance, uncovers the dark truth hidden by those in power and struggles to bring the truth to light. M for violence, language and mature situations.
1. Chapter 1

**~Author's note - Inspired by another prompt on the kink meme, just with less porn then what the OP was looking for so I worked on this for myself. **

**Thanks to Mordinette, again, for agreeing to beta this along with Hierarchy. Thank you! **

** I'll try and update weekly as well as my other story but I make no guarantees. I'm probably insane for trying to maintain two stories at once but this one compelled just as the other did.~**

A faint shimmer outlined a body where it paused briefly in the moonlight before it resumed edging along the wall. The asari sleeping in the room neither heard nor saw it before the muzzle flash of a gun signaled the end her life. A human appeared beside the bed; she holstered her gun only after verifying that the asari was dead.

"The Council sends its regards, Nassana."

With the target out of the way, the human systematically searched the room, throwing various things into a pile. Her target had foolishly thought that the remote location and fancy electronics would keep her safe. Agent Shepard shoved all the computer bits and pieces she had piled up into a large duffel bag she had found in a closet. Opening the door into the main living room, she flipped on the lights. The sight that greeted her caused her to swear aloud.

"Son-of-a-bitch," she growled to herself.

On either side of the living room, a turian had been chained to the wall from the collar around its neck. Both blinked at the sudden light and low growls reverberated from their chests. She had to give it to Nassana; her watchdogs were impressive, especially when they gracefully stood up, attaining their full height. The pale silvery one with his distinctive long cheek fringe glanced over at the dark chocolate brown one with the ornate white breeder's mark on his face before they both turned their attention back to Shepard.

She tugged off the hood that covered most of her head and stuffed it into the bag. One hand attempted to smooth down her short black hair while she pulled out her pistol and gestured at the pair with the other.

"Listen, I have no quarrel with you two. Your _owner_ is dead, by Council orders. The way I see it you have a couple of options. One - I can shoot you both and put you out of your misery, two - I can release you to either die from starvation or be shot as vermin, or three - I can take you with me. Of course I reserve the right to invoke option one should the need arise. Do I make myself clear?"

She looked them both in the eyes; she knew turians were regarded at best as only monkey level intelligent, but she preferred to make her own assessment. The pair looked at each other. They tilted their head, apparently confused by her talking _to_ them rather than _at_ them. A series of chirps came from the brown one and the silver one replied in kind. Their head fringes identified them as both males and they stood a good foot taller than her, so she wouldn't get any closer to either of them until she had seen some sort of positive response from them.

The exchange continued, with the silver one even giving a low growl at his companion. The brown one threw his head back defiantly and then turned to look at Shepard where she stood. His green eyes watched her for a moment before he sank back down to his knees, giving a soft chirp as he tilted his head to the side, allowing her access to his collar.

She crossed the room to reach his side. A flick of the latch and she released him from the chain and it was there, in elegant writing: a name had been inscribed on the collar - _Nihlus_. She noted that the chain was short, barely long enough to allow the six-foot plus turian to stand and take a few steps away from the wall. There was nothing along the wall for them to sleep on and no way to get any water either. Now she wished she had made Nassana pay a little more; hell, back on Mindoir her family's dogs had been treated better than these two.

"There you go, Nihlus."

Shepard stood back and waited while the silver one made up his mind. His icy blue eyes never left her even as he gave a frustrated growl before he, too, sunk to his knees as his companion had just done. She walked over and released him, noting that the name inscribed on his collar was _Saren_.

"Alright you two, give me a few minutes to sweep the rest of the house for what I came for and then we will be off."

Her omni-tool had a special program to help her find hidden compartments and she systematically swept the living area for any secret caches. She only found one ,but it contained several more datapads and even some credit chits. All of this went into her bag before she headed into the kitchen area. Amala had a few dextro rations on her ship, leftovers from when Tali had given her a hand on a mission a few months ago, but there was little else. The turians stayed well behind, although they still followed her into the area. Amala flipped open several cupboards, looking for anything that they could eat. She pulled out several boxes of various flavors of what the package advertised as 'nutritionally sound for your adult turian'. She opened one and the smell that hit her turned her stomach. Wrinkling her nose in disgust, she turned to the turians.

"Do you guys really like this shit?"

They looked at each other again and then at her before they slowly shook their head 'no'. Her eyes hardened in disgust at what she had always suspected were true and now she had proof, standing in front of her even. Turians were intelligent, far more intelligent than was portrayed by popular media and government public service messages. But that problem would have to wait for now.

"Thank god. Is there anything edible she kept for you two?"

The one named Nihlus moved closer to her and brushed past her to open the cooling unit. He rummaged around a bit before pulling out a container of what looked like some kind of cooked meat. He offered it to her. She pushed it back into his hands.

"You can carry it, and if there is anything else either of you want to take with you, grab it now."

Once more, they shook their heads 'no' and Amala lead them out into the night. For their size, they moved remarkably quiet and followed behind Amala as she headed out of the compound. The guards had been neutralized on the way in, and now barring anything unforeseen, their path was clear out of the area.

Thankfully, Nassana's choice in housing had been on the outskirts of the nearby town. The moon overhead illuminated their path and the odd trio made their way to an open field close by. A few commands from her omni-tool and a small ship descended down from the clouds overhead. It hovered low enough that they could jump up into it. The hatch opened and Amala pulled herself up into it with Nihlus and Saren close on her heels. She locked the hatch before turning to the interior of the ship.

"EDI, head to the Citadel and say hello to our newest guests, Nihlus and Saren," Amala said, gesturing at the two turians behind her.

A female voice answered, "Welcome aboard the Wildcat. Really, Shepard? I thought you were against keeping turians as pets?"

Amala groaned, "I am. Think of this more as a rescue. Nassana owned them, so what was I supposed to do? Leave them behind?"

"So, do you believe me now?"

Amala sighed, "Yes EDI, you were right. I'll never doubt you again."

EDI's laughter rang through the ship, "I do so enjoy making you say that."

Shepard turned to her 'guests', as the turians were looking around curiously.

"There is a cabin behind the first door on the right and the only restroom is opposite it. The galley is just beyond those two doors. Make yourself at home; I'll be up here in the cockpit."

Nihlus peered into the cockpit area, but no other entity was there. His confusion must have been apparent, because Shepard grinned at him.

"Ah yes, EDI is an AI."

"Which you were supposed to destroy," EDI helpfully added.

"Actually my orders were to eliminate you from that facility. You are gone from that building, so technically I followed orders," Amala laughed.

"I'm grateful you understood my message."

"Me too. Anyway, she's my pilot, the ship, a friend, and a coworker. While onboard the ship, feel free to take off your collar, but once we hit the Citadel you will have to put them back on. I can use my Spectre authority so you don't have to be leashed, but without your collar on you will be shot on sight by C-Sec."

"Shepard, you have one other problem."

"Only one? Must be a slow day."

"The silver one - he doesn't have a breeder's mark on him. This makes him _'kill on sight'_ regardless."

"His name is Saren. Do we have anything on board we can use to give him a fake breeder's mark?"

"We still have that blue body paint you used when you went undercover that one time. It should be safe for him to wear and it's waterproof, so it should last a few days at the least."

"Great! Can you pull up a picture of the easiest breeder's mark to copy?"

"You can access it on the terminal."

Shepard rummaged through several storage bins before she found the paint that EDI had mentioned. She dashed into the bathroom and found the small amount of cosmetics she owned and pulled out a small brush. She found the turians standing near the hatch still.

"Follow me," she said, gesturing with one hand.

They followed her back into the small dining area and Amala pointed to a seat.

"Sit down, Saren, so I can hopefully do this without making a mess."

Saren's eyes narrowed a bit and a grumbling noise could be heard, but he sat in the seat as directed. Nihlus, however, seemed to be enjoying his friend's discomfort based on the amused trilling noise that came from him.

Amala called up the picture EDI had helpfully found. It looked easy enough: simple lines on the mandible and the chin. She painstakingly applied the paint, measuring distances, trying to make the lines as identical as possible. She made a small circle on the back of his hand, which drew another low growl from him.

"It should take about twenty minutes to dry. You can touch that mark to see if it is before you touch your face, and try not to scratch it either. I bet those talons of yours would scrape it off. Turians taken from their home world are not allowed in Council space. Even my Spectre status wouldn't protect you, so it's this," she said pointing to his face, "or you have to stay on the ship."

Saren nodded and stood up. Nihlus moved in and gently took Saren's face in his hands, turning it this way and that, examining it closely.

"Will it pass inspection?" Amala asked Nihlus.

He nodded once and then his mandibles spread wide in what she assumed was a turian smile.


	2. Chapter 2

Amala hooked up yet another one of the electronics she had removed from Nassana's house to EDI's interface - they needed to be done before the ship arrived at the Citadel. She looked behind her to find Nihlus watching her, while Saren stood behind him. The turians had spent much of the trip conversing in low tones[not that she could understand them anyway].

"Hey EDI, is there any translator program out there that could let us know what they are saying?"

"Negative."

"Well shit. Do you think you could make one?"

"With adequate reference material it would be possible to accurately translate their language."

"How do we get that?"

"If they could read a sufficiently long text that I knew the translation for, then it would be relatively easy to adjust your translator implant to allow you to understand them."

Shepard scrambled around in a storage bin looking for the novel she had started a few days ago. She pulled out a datapad and handed it to Nihlus.

"Can you read this?"

He glanced down at it and shook his head before handing it back to her. She pushed a few buttons and brought up the text now written in asari.

"What about this?" she asked, offering the device to him.

He looked at it and a soft sigh escaped him before he handed it back to her. She then clicked through all the language variants available for that text, but each one had the same result.

"Well, hell. They can understand us, but we can't understand them," Amala grumbled.

Nihlus pulled his collar down and with one talon he pointed out the small scar and bump hidden under it.

"Of course! They implanted a translator in you. Wait, that means your language must be encoded on it. EDI, can we use that?"

"It would have to be removed for me to access it, but yes, that would work."

In a flash, Saren stood between Nihlus and Shepard, a low menacing sound directed at her. Shepard narrowed her eyes at him.

"Listen, I'm not going to hurt either of you unless I have to invoke option one. So back the fuck off. I'm not like any of your previous 'owners'," she snarled at Saren.

Nihlus tugged on Saren's shoulder, a reassuring rumble emanating from him. Amala stood up, preparing to meet any attack the turian might choose to use.

"Listen, if you can't curb your impulses, you are likely to get us all killed. Or at the very least, force me to shoot you myself."

Saren's angry snarl was his reply. EDI intervened by spawning a small drone, zapping Shepard with a light electrical pulse.

"Fuck, EDI! I hate that damn thing."

"No fighting in the cockpit," EDI answered mildly. "They have no reason to trust you, Amala."

"You mean besides me saving them from their situation at Nassana's?"

"Yes, but how do they know you aren't taking them somewhere worse? They don't know you. Perhaps if you explained why you are risking yourself for them they might trust you more."

Still rubbing her arm, Shepard sank back down into the pilot's chair.

"Fine, you're right as usual," she grudgingly agreed. A small sigh escaped her before she began, "I grew up in a small settlement on the planet of Mindoir. My family was just a bunch of farmers."

Amala paused for a moment, ruffling her hair with one hand. She had avoided talking about her life before, and she could count on one hand the number of people who she had told this story to. Taking a deep breath, she continued on, both of the turians watching her intently as they listened. "I was sixteen when the settlement was attacked. Slavers, they said. If they were slavers, they were piss poor ones. Mostly they just slaughtered everyone, men, women, and children. I was one of the few who escaped. Everything I knew, everyone that mattered - I lost them all that day."

She stood up and turned towards the window, watching the stars go by.

"I joined the military as soon as they would let me. Hell, I would have joined immediately after the attack, but they said I was too young. So I waited and trained and read every report I could get my hands on. Even then, I knew it was just so much bullshit. They were too well armed, and somehow they just missed the Alliance patrol that had visited our colony. So I've been hunting for the truth ever since. Slavers who cross my path, well, let's just say I show them the same mercy they showed my family."

She swung around to see the turians' reaction to her story. Saren gave her a curt nod; apparently, he was willing to call a truce again. Nihlus's expression was harder to fathom, but he also nodded. Amala returned to plugging in the various electronics, letting EDI scan each one. She dropped the last piece back into the duffle bag and looked up to see the ship fast approaching the relay.

"Anything useful from any of those?" Amala asked EDI.

"Negative. Preparing to enter the relay; we'll be at the Citadel within the hour," EDI announced.

"Oh well," Amala sighed.

Shepard zipped the bag up and stood up stretching her arms and shoulders. The turians' eyes were riveted on the sight of the massive structure as the ship drew closer to it. She waited until the ship had entered the corridor and not much else could be seen before turning back to them.

"Have either of you been to the Citadel?"

Their heads snapped back to her and they shook their heads no.

"This place is huge, so stick close to me and keep your head down no matter what. There is no second chance, so be meek and don't react to anything. And if, god forbid, we run into another turian, don't try and talk to them."

At their quizzical look she continued, "They are broken. It was after a mission where I rescued a few humans from a slaver that I realized what the look on so called 'pet' turians was; they had been broken just like those slaves I had rescued. That's when I first began to suspect the truth, hell, I even tried to talk to one to confirm it. It was like talking to a wall - they are too well trained and won't react to anything. Those are the only ones you see, you two are the first I've come across that weren't so _tamed_. So yeah, all you would do is out yourselves and then we all will be in trouble."

She hoped the rumbling sound coming from them meant their agreement, or this was going to be a short trip. The ship exited the relay and in front of them, the arms of the Citadel stood open.

"Shepard, you'll be happy to know I took care of the ownership forms for Saren and Nihlus."

"Oh crap, I forgot about that. Thanks, EDI."

"You are welcome. I listed their previous owner as unknown, just in case."

Shepard checked her sidearm while she waited for EDI to dock the ship. She groaned when she spotted which C-Sec officer was waiting at her docking pad. Harkin, that lecherous bastard - she kept hoping someone would shoot him before she had to, solely so she wouldn't have to fill out the paperwork.

"You two ready?" she asked, and at their reassuring nods she opened the hatch.

The human male grinned as Shepard exited the ship, but his eyebrows shot up in surprise at the two turians that followed her out.

"Hey, Agent Shepard, you know you're supposed to have them on a leash."

"Harkin, I'm a Spectre; people try and kill me all the time, so I'm not going to have some damn leash in my hand slowing me down when I have to go for my gun. They are well behaved and will stay next to me. And if they don't, I'll take care of them myself."

Shepard locked the hatch behind them and moved to brush past Harkin. He stepped in front of her, forcing her to stop.

"Harkin, I have to go report to the Council and I'm tired and want nothing more than a hot shower and my own bed, so move before I move you myself."

"Come on Shepard, meet me for drinks later. It will be fun. You're all stressed out from too much work; come and unwind with me. I'll show you a good time," he said with a wink.

Maybe she could just graze him with a bullet, maybe then he would take the hint. No, better to do this with a minimal amount of fuss.

"No, Harkin, I will not meet you for drinks. I will never meet you for drinks. So now move aside," she said, her voice dropping down into a growl.

He took the hint and Shepard moved past him, the turians keeping close to her. The crowds parted around her, giving her a wide berth. She wasn't that imposing, but the turians at her heel, well they were. They made good time and she was happier than ever that she had chosen a place not far from the docks.

The click of the turians' talons echoed in the deserted lobby of the apartment building. She breathed a sigh of relief when they entered the relative safety of her apartment. The lights flickered on upon their arrival.

"I'll be back as soon as I can and I'll pick up some dextro take out on the way home. You guys are lucky I have a friend who is a quarian, so I know where to even find some. Look around, barring a new assignment we will be here for a few days at least."

She spun on her heel and left the two turians standing in her entryway.

* * *

Several hours later Shepard finally made her way home, her arms full of cartons of food. She let herself in, but found the flat eerily quiet. She groaned aloud, hoping they hadn't decided to venture outside.

"Nihlus? Saren? You still here?"

An answering call came from the back bedroom. She placed the cartons on the small table in the kitchen before venturing back to see what the pair was up to. She found them going through her weapons, well Saren was, Nihlus seemed content to watch and listen when Saren stopped to say something. Although now that she watched more closely, it appeared as if Saren was explaining the weapons to Nihlus.

"I take it you know your way around guns, Saren?"

He looked up and gave a curt nod before going back to the pistol he was examining.

"Soldier?"

Again, he gave a curt nod.

"Leadership role?"

He nodded once more.

"Well fuck. They captured you and were trying to break you, right?"

He growled along with the nod this time.

"The next time we get somewhere isolated, you'll have to teach Nihlus how to use one of those. I have a feeling he'll need to know how before long. Come on, I brought dinner."

He carefully replaced the pistol before following the other two out to the kitchen.

The conversation over dinner was pleasant, well at least pleasant sounding. Amala made up conversations in her head to go with the sounds the turians were making; it felt weird though, being the odd one out. At least they seemed to enjoy the change in diet as they passed the cartons of different foods between them. The ping of an incoming message diverted her from her thoughts. She opened it up and it read:

_Meet me at Flux, tonight, usual table and time. - W_

'_Fine_' was her reply. She looked up to find both turians watching her closely.

"Message from one of my contacts; I need to meet him tonight. The bed in the room with my weapons, you two can use. Make yourself at home; hopefully this won't take too long."

**~A great big thank you to Mordinette for beta'ing this! And thanks for all the follows, reviews and favorites. I'm happy so many are interested in this story!~**


	3. Chapter 3

The beat of the bass throbbed in the air as Shepard neared the club. She weaved her way through the crowd until she had found the familiar red armor of her friend at his table, nursing a drink. She slipped into the booth across from the krogan.

"Wrex."

"Shepard," he chuckled, rolling the name out and making it sound longer than it was.

Amala rolled her eyes; for some reason he loved to tease her by just saying her name. He told her once it sounded funny to a krogan.

"So what do you have for me?"

"Well, nothing really."

"What the hell you drag me here for then? You know I hate this place."

"I, uh, could use your help again."

"Lose your ancestral armor already Wrex? Really? I thought you would hang onto it better than that," Shepard laughed.

"Very funny, Shepard. No, one of our own has been selling my people. I plan on stopping him."

"What? Krogans make horrible slaves!"

"Tell me something I don't already know. But they are disappearing and are never heard from again."

"I can't believe you need my help with one krogan. Getting soft?"

"Well, maybe it's because he is in a Blue Suns base," he admitted sheepishly.

"Oh hell, Wrex. That's not going to be easy. You have anyone else besides me?"

"No one I trust at my back like you."

Shepard groaned and dropped her head in her hands. She would have to call in numerous favors to be able to help her friend and he knew the slavery button would guarantee she would help him. Her omni-tool alerted that she had an incoming message and she reluctantly opened it up.

_'Agent Shepard, something has come up. Please report to the Council chambers immediately.'_

Wrex watched a scowl form on her face.

"Bad news?"

"I have to go; the damn Council - again. I'll try and come up with a team to help you, Wrex. I need a fucking vacation," she muttered before slipping out of the booth.

"Dammit. Contact me when you get back."

"Will do," she said before disappearing into the crowd.

* * *

Shepard stumbled into her apartment, hours after she had hoped to be in bed. One last thing and then she could finally sleep. With the touch of a few buttons on the console she activated all the security measures for her apartment. Still dressed, she fell into her bed, and was asleep in minutes.

A tapping on her door stirred her from her slumber. What seemed like having only been asleep for minutes was in reality hours according to the clock on her bedside table. Rolling out of bed, she stumbled over to the door. Slapping the control panel, it opened up to reveal Nihlus standing on the other side. He took in her appearance and tried to mask the noise he made, which could only be described as a laugh. She vainly tried to smooth down her hair, but there wasn't much she could do about her rumpled clothing.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. I was called to the Council while I was out. I swear, they must have lost all their other agents because they keep sending me out as soon as I get in. Tell Saren to pick out whatever weapons he wants and put them in the bag that is in the closet in that room. As soon as I can get more supplies we will be leaving again."

A few taps on her omni-tool and she contacted EDI next.

"Hey EDI, guess what."

"Already? I took the liberty of ordering rations for you and our new friends. All necessary supplies will be waiting at our docking bay in three hours. Shepard, I am a little concerned they are sending you out again. Your time off has been, well, short."

"I know, but I think for this mission we'll take our sweet time. Set a flight path near a planet where we can do some target practice. Obviously with a breathable atmosphere. Sending you the coordinates for our target."

"Aww, there goes my plan to have you walk out of the ship and die horribly."

"You would miss me too much to kill me. We'll be there in a few hours."

* * *

EDI had found them a suitable planet and now Shepard took some time to relax in the sun while she watched Saren instruct Nihlus on the finer points of using a gun. He appeared to be a quick study, gaining confidence quickly. A few taps on her omni-tool and a small drone shimmered into view next to her. She then directed it towards the turians.

"Heads up, guys! Here is something that moves to practice on. It only has a mild electrical charge, but it still stings, so you best shoot it first."

They turned to see the drone rapidly approaching them and Saren pulled Nihlus behind some rocks for cover. One of them yelled something at her; it didn't sound very complimentary, but of course she couldn't understand them. '_What a shame_', she thought with a grin.

The game of cat and mouse between Nihlus and the drone continued until the drone finally exhausted its energy and disappeared. Shepard spawned another one and directed it at Nihlus once more. And so it went, more drones spawned until Nihlus managed to shoot them while being fired at. That's when it hit Shepard, _'Shit, these guys are basically naked. Fuck, how do I get them some armor?_'

While the turians were busy with the latest drone, Shepard sent a quick message to someone who might be able to point her in the right direction.

'_Hey, where can I get custom fitted armor made, good quality and no questions asked? - S_.'

She waited impatiently for a reply. Seeing the latest drone dissolve, she created another for Nihlus to shoot. The ping of an incoming message diverted her attention, but it only took a second to read it.

'_Call me - W_.'

She looked up from the message to find that Nihlus had shot the latest drone. He peered cautiously over the edge of the rocks and she gave him a wave.

"You guys had enough for today?"

Nihlus broke cover first, Saren following shortly after. Nihlus's mandibles flared in what she had come to think of as a smile while Saren's were tight against his face.

"Well done, Nihlus! I'm not sure if Saren was that good of a teacher or you just are a natural with a gun. Now we need to find you both some armor. I have a friend who might be able to point us in the right direction."

They followed her back onto the ship, the two turians disappearing into the back to clean the weapons. Amala flopped into the pilot's seat.

"EDI, can you get Wrex on the line, as secure as you can make it?"

"Of course. Oh and I took the liberty of putting in a leave request for you for a month off."

Amala laughed at that, "Right, I can see that happening real fast, because every time I ask for a week off they tell me they are short of agents."

"Yet they granted it this time."

She nearly fell off her chair in surprise. "You're joking, right?"

"No, here is the approval."

Amala scanned it quickly. Upon conclusion of this mission she would be granted a month off. At first, she was elated, but then she had to wonder why they would suddenly grant it. Nothing good came to mind.

"Patching you through now."

"Shepard! Need new armor eh?" Wrex squinted, trying to see Amala better.

"It's not for me."

"What? You're finally going to lead a pyjak revolt!" he said with a deep rumbling laugh.

"Ha. Ha. No, I have a few friends that need armor and it might not be strictly, uh, legal."

"Then you'll have to go to Omega. Though you'll get a better deal if you bring me along," he added with a sly smile. "And from there we can hit Korlus."

"Head to Illium then. I'll contact you when we get there after I take care of my mission for the Council."

"See you there Shepard."

* * *

Amala grunted in pain when she dropped into the closest chair. Her pistol lay across her lap while she activated her comm link to the ship.

"EDI, I need someone to bring me more medi-gel. All out. Think everyone is dead, but tell them to come armed just to be sure."

"Understood. Hold on."

She flipped the clasps holding her breastplate together, allowing the now useless item to fall to the floor. She pressed down on her side where it was still oozing blood, which caused her to hiss in pain. The roar overhead announced the arrival of her ship and help. Even better, she could sit here and wait - resting seemed real good right about now. This had been the toughest fight she had in a long time; hell, she couldn't remember a mission going this sideways so quickly before. If she was feeling optimistic, then her target had been warned, and if pessimism reared its head, then this had been a setup from the start. Neither option would ensure a long and healthy life for her.

The whoosh of the door opening brought her out of her thoughts, and even though she suspected it was one or both of the turians, she hadn't made it this far in life by taking chances. Saren peered around the corner with a pistol in his hands. Nihlus followed carefully behind him, carrying the emergency supplies from the ship. Saren prodded the body closest to him with a foot while Nihlus hurried to Amala's side.

"I think I got them all, but I was a little distracted at the end, so it might not be a bad idea for you to check my work. If you find one that is alive enough for questioning, save him for me."

He nodded and stepped carefully among the dead, checking each one before moving onto the next. Shepard wasted no time stripping the top of her under suit down until the wound could be seen. Before she could even say anything Nihlus was already there, pressing more medi-gel over the wound, bringing a sigh of relief as it went to work.

"Thanks. Best stuff ever invented."

Now that her side wasn't on fire anymore she could begin the next phase of her mission - collecting all the data devices. Nihlus watched her for a moment before he joined in. She threw him a grateful smile and fired up her program in order to scan for any hidden compartments.

She was elbow deep in a server, ripping out the drives, when she heard an excited call. She followed the noise until she found them, standing in front of a locked door. Saren had the control panel open as he tried to bypass the system on it, but so far, his efforts had only resulted in growls of frustration. She tapped him on the shoulder.

"Let me try. I have several hacking programs a friend made."

He stepped back and she began to work on the panel. Finally, the door slid open. Instead of valuables, weapons, or some other high value item, they found that this room had been turned into a prison. The smell pointed to at least some, if not all, of the prisoners being dead.

"What in hell were they doing here?" she muttered.

They were chained against the wall and Shepard began the distasteful job of checking for survivors. Nihlus and Saren waited just outside the door, watching as Shepard went around the room. The first turian she came to was dead, along with a human and a salarian. Removal of bodies had not been a priority, it seemed.

Nihlus rushed across the room, causing Shepard to look up in confusion, but then she saw why. At least one prisoner still lived, a turian. His mandibles fluttered and he glanced from Nihlus, to Saren, to her, obviously not quite believing what he was seeing. Saren joined Nihlus and together they freed him from his shackles.

"Get him back to the ship. I'll finish gathering what I came for and meet you guys back there."

They worked to half carry, half walk him out. Nihlus talked in low soothing tones, with an occasional comment from Saren. As soon as they were gone, Shepard turned to the dead turian. She had to hunt a bit for the telltale bump of the implant, but once she found it, she drew her utility blade. She had barely cut into the flesh when the implant self-destructed. Her reflexes caused her to rock back, but she wasn't fast enough to avoid being hit by some pieces of bloody flesh.

"Well, fuck," she growled.

She cleaned herself up as best as she could before returning to her work.

* * *

**~Thanks to Mordinette, my beta, for all your help! And thanks to my readers for all the reviews, follows, etc.~**


	4. Chapter 4

Shepard carried the heavy bag out to the yard where her ship waited. Perhaps she could find some answers in one of the devices she had collected. The inside of the ship rang with the sounds of her boots and then the clatter of the bag as she dropped it near the pilot's chair.

"Connect me," she began.

"Already done. He is meeting us at a nearby fueling depot. How badly are you hurt?"

"Nothing a little medi-gel couldn't fix. Where is the new guy?"

"They just finished cleaning him up and now they are in the galley. It appears as if Saren has made some broth for him," EDI said in an amused tone.

Amala's eyebrow quirked upward at that image. Saren didn't seem the most obvious choice for domestic duties in the kitchen. She headed back to meet the newest rescue and at this rate they would have to find a bigger ship.

She found them sitting around the small table, the new one gently sipping the broth that EDI had mentioned. His plates were a light grey with cobalt colored marks emblazoned on his face that identified him as coming from a breeding colony. His dark blue eyes shifted upward to gaze at her when she took the last seat.

"Hi, I'm Amala Shepard. I'm sure Saren or Nihlus can fill you in on me. You're safe for the moment well, as safe as anyone can be traveling with a Spectre."

He cocked his head at that. She sighed, "Stands for Special Tactics and Reconnaissance, agents of the Galactic Council. The official spiel is boring, but basically we are charged with ensuring galactic stability by whatever means necessary. We are en route to pick up a doctor I trust; he'll fix you up."

"And you," EDI said, her voice coming over the ship's comm system.

"I'm fine."

"Says the woman who requested more medi-gel because she was _out_."

"You told him, didn't you?"

"Of course. We are approaching the depot now."

She pushed her chair back and left the turians where they were so she could go pretend to guide the ship into a docking port. She had been scolded before about letting a VI guide her ship into dock. EDI had voiced her disdain afterwards at the notion that she would miscalculate and hit anything.

Amala waited until the ship settled into its docking cradle before she cracked the hatch open. A voice called to her and she broke into a grin when she saw her friend walking quickly towards her with a large bag slung over one shoulder.

"Mordin! Thanks for coming on such short notice."

"Fortunate. On my way to Omega."

The salarian brushed past her and she locked the hatch down before returning to the cockpit.

"Other patient?"

"Galley."

"Come," he ordered, and without even bothering to see if she was following, he headed deeper into the ship.

Amala sighed. If she didn't follow him, he would just hunt her down eventually. Better to get it over with sooner rather than later. Mordin came to an abrupt stop in front of her. She walked around him and saw the bemused expression on his face.

"Oh my. Which one is my patient? Never had a chance to examine one personally, must take notes."

"We found the grey one being held in a room they had turned into a prison. There is a very good reason that you haven't been allowed to examine one. They are a _sapient species_."

Mordin gasped, "No. But-"

"If you want to leave and pretend you never saw them, I would totally understand."

Mordin shook his head, his eyes narrowed. "Unacceptable. Will help however I can."

Amala flashed him a grateful smile. "That one there is Saren; the other one is Nihlus and well I haven't checked to see what name they gave the new guy. EDI is working on a translation program with their help so eventually we can understand them. This is Doctor Mordin Solus," she continued, turning to the turians. "If he talks circles around you, get used to it. He does that to everyone, but he is a brilliant doctor and I trust him."

Saren and Nihlus both gave brief nods towards the salarian. Mordin approached the grey one, his omni-tool already hard at work scanning.

"Let's see...hmm...yes, mild dehydration, some bruising. Begun intake of liquids I see, good."

He leaned in closer to examine the turian's collar. "Garrus, name on collar. Is that how you decide what to call them?"

"Garrus, huh. Until we can understand them, that's all I can go by. So, overall he is okay?"

"Yes, food and rest and he'll be as good as ever."

Mordin dropped his bag at his feet and began pulling items out of it rapidly. He pressed one bottle into Garrus's hands and placed a different one on the table.

"Take two of those for pain will make you drowsy, so plan accordingly. Other bottle is for all of you; quarian supplement I created should improve condition until I can run more tests and create one more specific for your species."

Garrus swallowed two of the pills that Mordin had given him and looked around questioningly.

Amala pointed at a door. "You can use the bed in there."

He nodded and wearily headed to the room indicated. Mordin then turned his attention to Amala.

"What?" she asked.

"Let me see."

"I'm fine."

"I'm the doctor," he said with a wave of one hand. "I'll be the judge."

Amala sighed and exposed her side where the mostly healed wound was. Mordin ran a few scans before digging into his bag once more. He pulled out two injectors and rapidly shot Amala with both of them.

"Hey! What did you just give me?"

"Antibiotics and something else to help you heal faster," Mordin answered.

Amala put a hand up as her head began to spin. Mordin took her by the arm and gently steered her towards the room where the turian had disappeared.

"You rotten man, you gave me a sedative," she growled.

"Mild one. EDI informed me that you haven't had enough rest lately. Will feel better when you awake."

Garrus didn't stir as Mordin gently helped Amala to lie down. He hummed to himself as he lined up the tests he would want to run on the other two turians, leaving the pair to slumber undisturbed.

* * *

Amala nuzzled into the warm hide, the heat drawing her closer and closer. Her drug-addled brain only encouraged her and it wasn't until she flung one arm over the source of the heat that she finally realized that it was another body she was snuggling into. Blearily, she opened her eyes and found herself staring into Garrus's blue ones.

"Oh crap. I'm sorry."

She rolled away from him with a groan.

"Nothing more embarrassing than waking up in bed with a strange man. Not to mention finding yourself draped all over him like a cheap asari dancer."

He just watched her, making her feel even more nervous.

"And you know, you could have woken me up or pushed me away. Crap, I'm babbling."

A noise similar to the one that Nihlus had made previously suggested that he was laughing at her. She turned her head and found his mandibles flared; she hoped that it really was their version of a smile. _'Good. Maybe they hadn't had time to break him yet'_, she thought.

"Of course, I'm blaming Mordin for this whole embarrassing episode."

Amala rolled out of bed, glad at least that Mordin hadn't stripped her down. Garrus moved a little stiffly as he, too, left the bed, not like the usual grace she had seen from Saren and Nihlus.

"Still a little sore?"

He nodded absently but took a moment to rotate his shoulders and stretch before following her out into the main part of the ship. She pointed out the door directly across from where they stood.

"That's the bathroom. I need to see where we are."

"We will be arriving on Illium within the hour. Wrex will be waiting for us as soon as we give him our docking bay number," EDI answered.

"Thanks, EDI."

While she waited for her turn in the bathroom, she walked to the galley. A cup of coffee and a nutrient bar to get her going seemed in order. She found Saren in the kitchen, making some of the meals EDI had supplied for them. Starting up her coffee, she watched Saren work.

"I understand now why you got so pissed about the implant. For the record, I would never have done anything without Nihlus's permission. But you didn't know that and in your position I would have done the same damn thing," she told him.

He stopped and turned to look at her. He gave her a small nod and continued with what he was doing. Taking it as a good sign, she plowed on.

"I assume you guys aren't going to want to follow me all over the galaxy forever."

Saren snorted at that and then gave her a questioning look.

"I've been thinking. Besides a working translator program, your people need allies and, well, we will be picking up a friend of mine who needs help. I've promised him my help but I'm going to suggest he ask you for yours. I know he can't understand what you say so I'll say it for you. If he wants your help, he needs to be ready to pay back that favor. I know you're probably thinking, what good is one person? He's a krogan and well on his way to uniting most of the clans left under him."

By this time the other two turians had joined them. Saren passed out the meals he had heated up and the three of them stood waiting for her to continue.

"The krogan are formidable ground troops. I can't see anything but a war bringing about your freedom, or at least the threat of one. I have some pull among my own people and hopefully I can get them on your side. EDI, how goes the decoding of their language?"

"Working on some basic phrases. When they have suits I can link to, I'll be able to translate anything I know for you."

"Good. Work on combat terminology. In a fight, we will need it."

"Perhaps you should get them omni-tools as well. If the comm systems in the suits go down, you can use them as a backup."

"Right, we should be able to get something like that on Omega as well. Do I need to head up there for docking yet?"

"Negative, Doctor Solus is collating his data in the pilot's seat. They will assume he is navigating."

"Okay, after Wrex is on board, head to another planet that we can do some target practice on. Garrus will at least need some basic training with a gun before we hit Omega."

Garrus stood a little straighter and turned to look at Saren, and for the first time Shepard heard him vocalize and it sounded like a question. She sipped her coffee taking the time to observe them. Garrus seemed the youngest of the three, his plates smoother than the other two. Saren appeared to be the oldest, by how much she had no idea, but the other two definitely looked to him as their de facto leader.

"Amala, we are docked," EDI announced over the comm system.

"On my way."

She put her coffee down and moved to meet Wrex at the door. How this was going to play out, she had no idea.

**~Thanks once more to Mordinette and all her help! And a great big thank you to my readers!~**


	5. Chapter 5

Amala opened the hatch and watched the krogan swagger up to her ship; all the while, several officials followed his progress carefully. Knowing Wrex, he had probably stirred them up before heading to her ship.

"Wrex," she called out.

"Shepard. About damn time you got here. Was beginning to think you asked me to Illium as payback for Flux, just because you know I hate this stuck up planet so much."

She stepped aside, allowing him onto the ship before latching the hatch after him.

"Hardly. But before we leave port I need your promise that whatever you see onboard stays with you."

"What the hell did you bring on now?"

Seeing that Amala wasn't saying anything further, he gave a nod and said, "Fine. Your secret is safe with me, whatever it is."

"Thank you, Wrex," she said and then gestured to where Mordin sat in the cockpit. "I had to pick up Mordin before you, that's why it took me longer to get here."

"You couldn't find someone besides that salarian to help us?"

"Actually, I needed him for something else. You'll have to ask him if he'll help us out and on that note, let me introduce you to those that need the armor."

Amala led him back to the galley where the turians sat repeating phrases back to EDI.

"Wow, all of them at once, EDI?"

"Yes, they each have a slightly different accent, so this way my translations will be able to account for dialect variations."

"Do you have a death wish, Shepard?" Wrex growled.

"What's been done to them is wrong and you know it."

"And you're breaking the laws you're supposed to be upholding!"

Shepard turned and stood nose to nose with the much larger krogan.

"Slavery is outlawed in Council space. So care to explain how this happened?" she asked, gesturing at the turians.

"Well it wasn't us," Wrex snorted. "So sheltering them isn't enough, you have to get them armor as well?"

"I get shot at. They are traveling with me, so armor seems prudent. Saren," she said, pointing him out with one hand, "is teaching them to shoot as well."

Wrex gave a disbelieving snort. "Right, because everyone knows that they train slaves to shoot."

"Saren isn't from a breeding colony. Those marks, I put them there to keep him safe."

"Fuck, you do have a death wish!" Wrex yelled, his face in close to hers. The speed and grace with which the one she'd called Saren was suddenly at her side and with a gun pointed at his head was all the proof he needed that he was indeed a soldier. He gave an appreciative laugh; like any krogan, he respected strength.

"Alright, guess he is a soldier."

"Yes, he is."

"You know when the Council finds out about this they will 'retire' you."

"They may already be trying," Amala said with a sigh.

"What?"

Amala sank into the nearest chair, idly ruffling her hair with one hand.

"You know my last mission? Either my mark was warned or it was a setup. But I can't risk anyone else knowing about them just yet, so we'll have to run your mission by ourselves."

"What about him?" Wrex asked, waving a hand in Saren's direction.

"You'll have to ask him."

Amala watched as Wrex put his pride aside to ask the turian for help.

"So, turian," he began.

"Wrex..."

"Fine. Saren, I could use your help stopping some idiot who is taking my people and selling them off. And you know, that way you can make sure Shepard comes back in one piece."

Saren watched the krogan before turning to Amala. His eyes flicked between her and the krogan and she took that as her cue.

"Are you prepared to return the favor, Wrex?" Amala asked.

"Huh?"

"He can't say it, but his people need allies if they are going to obtain their freedom."

"And my people need a cure for the genophage. I don't see either happening, do you?" Wrex mocked.

Amala stood up and pointed a finger at Wrex.

"You want a cure? Well, then your people have to prove they have learned from their mistake and one way to do that is to help another species without thought of payment."

"All that will do is get my people killed for no reason. Get me a cure and we can talk." Wrex growled.

"The galaxy will never trust the krogan as long as all they can remember is what your people did before. You need to show that they have matured and will stand with an ally first before demanding payment."

"What good did that do us during the Rachni Wars?"

"Bullshit, Wrex! The krogan were given several new worlds to colonize, but that wasn't enough. Your people decided they were going to take what they wanted, which happened to be the whole fucking galaxy! You shouldn't have been surprised when the rest of the galaxy banded against you."

"The genophage was wrong!"

"I didn't say it was right, but would you have preferred genocide? What was done to the krogan was bad but you still have it better than the turians."

Wrex snarled and stalked back and forth for a moment before facing Amala.

"You really think that standing with the turians will get the genophage cure back on the negotiation table?"

"You help the turians and I will do everything I can to get your people a cure."

"As will I," Mordin stated from where he stood, his arms crossed in front of him.

Amala wasn't sure when he had entered the galley, since she had focused all her attention on the angry krogan. She gave him a grateful smile.

"Fine, you help me stop the worthless krogan selling my people, and as the leader of Clan Urdnot I will pledge the support of all the clans I can muster to assist with the freeing of the turians."

Amala watched as Saren gave Wrex a dignified nod before his mandibles flared. That had to be a grin; she'd never witnessed him doing that before. Garrus and Nihlus had no qualms about expressing their joy as they clapped each other on the shoulder.

"Congratulations. Glad that we got that settled without EDI having to vent the ship to get rid of the hostile organics. EDI, how long until we hit our next stop?"

"Two point three galactic hours."

* * *

An interesting group strode down the gangway onto the space station. The dockworkers watched as a large krogan led the group, followed closely by three turians, all bearing arms, and bringing up the rear there was a human and a salarian. Amala hoped that the obvious show of force would keep the majority of the station's inhabitants out of their path. Unfortunately, the armor dealer Wrex had suggested resided in the heart of Blood Pack turf.

Saren had removed the stripes she had painted on him, and all three of them had removed their collars. She would swear they stood a little taller and there was a fire in their eyes now that they had a purpose. Garrus had picked up shooting just as quickly as Nihlus had, for which she was grateful. Bringing a non-combative onto Omega always left a bad taste in her mouth. Still, she kept a close eye on the two of them as far as she knew- neither of them had been in a firefight before and she didn't want to see that fire quenched needlessly early.

As they moved deeper into the station, away from the area actively controlled by Aria, the self-proclaimed ruler of Omega, trash and vermin that walked on two legs increased. The vorcha were the preferred grunts of the Blood Pack and from what Amala had seen, they had no redeeming qualities. Sigils of the Blood Pack appeared on the walls as well, and the group closed ranks further.

Finally, Wrex stopped in front of the shop he was looking for. The owner threw up his hands in dismay when he saw the old krogan leading them.

"Hey, I'm paid up. I don't want any trouble."

"Not here for them. We are customers. Shepard?"

Amala made her way to the front of the group.

"I need armor. For those three and myself," she said, pointing back towards the turians.

"Uh."

"I have the credits. I want the best you got as well, none of that knock off shit."

"But..."

"We are on Omega, and there is only one rule, and this doesn't violate it. So make them," she said, her eyes narrowed as she stared at the salarian.

The salarian gave a resigned sigh. He pulled out a scanner and started to map Amala, making frequent notes.

"Colors? Helmets?"

"Matte black for all. Yes, and full communication abilities, shields, the works."

The salarian's eyes opened wider. "Will be expensive."

"Not a problem," Amala answered and handed him her credit chit.

He scanned it and broke out into a smile. He yelled and assistants poured out from the back and they began the process of scanning each of the turians. It had barely started and just like that, the assistants disappeared in the back with the scanners.

"Have a fabricator in back so only take about an hour to have them ready."

"I'll wait here, Shepard, and make sure he doesn't disappear or something. You go get the rest of your shopping done," Wrex growled out while staring at the now nervous shop owner.

"Thanks Wrex. We'll be back shortly, this shouldn't take too long."

She had spotted a tech shop just a few doors down; she hoped they would have something decent for them. The turians followed closely behind her and Mordin. She entered the shop to find a human reading a datapad while his legs rested on the front desk. He stood and straightened out his clothes at her entrance. One hand smoothed back his hair and a smile crossed his face.

"Well hello there. How may I help you?"

Amala resisted rolling her eyes at his blatant come on. She decided to try the nice approach and returned his smile.

"Hi, I need three omni-tools. Good quality, none of that Elkoss crap."

"Of course, always good to have a couple of spares. I have some high-end Ariake units available. Would you like to see them?"

"That sounds great."

He disappeared into the back and brought out a box. He carefully removed one of the implants; a gentle touch and it brought up the interface showing the make and model. Amala leaned in to get a closer look and touched the interface, pulling up other options available on it.

"That's great; the other two are the same model?"

"Yes, here, I'll show you."

He repeated the process for the other two until Amala was satisfied.

"I'll take them."

She handed a different credit chit to the man and he quickly wrapped up her purchases. The implants were carefully tucked away into her pockets. Turning on her heel, she exited the shop, with the rest of the group following in her wake. As they approached the armor store, she could see Wrex leaning against a wall inside, making the already jumpy owner even more nervous.

Mordin walked alongside her, allowing her to talk to him without those around them overhearing her.

"When we get to your clinic can you do the install on the tools for me?"

"Contacted clinic while you were busy. Nothing needing my attention, so able to take care of it on the ship. Safer there."

"That's great," she blurted out.

"Glad to help, Shepard," he chuckled.

Sitting idly in the heart of Omega had Amala's teeth on edge, but she forced herself to sit still. Wrex maintained watch at the door, but she could see that his eyes followed every little movement around them. Mordin was probably solving all of the galaxy's problems by the sheer amount of typing he was doing on his omni-tool and the datapads he had pulled out of the voluminous pockets of his jacket. Every minute they had to wait increased the likelihood that one of the Blood Pack members would stumble upon them. A sigh of relief escaped her when the owner and his assistants came out of the back, bearing sets of armor for all of them. With a wave of a hand she sent the owner to assist one of the turians- putting on armor was something she had been doing for years.

After the last piece had been slapped in place, she looked up to see how the others were doing. She pulled the package of omni-tools and tucked it into one of the pockets in her new armor. Wrex and Mordin had joined in to help and now everyone was fully dressed. A quick demonstration of all the features, and they were able to escape the shop.

Wrex took point once more as they headed back to the docking area, his size and species making most inhabitants happy to move out of their way. Amala slowed her pace as she typed in the suit codes to send to EDI.

EDI's voice crackled in her helmet, "All suits are linked and I've patched in Wrex and Mordin."

"Great! Any problems on your end?"

"Negative. Just waiting for your return."

She nearly walked into Wrex's broad back when he came to an abrupt stop. Then she heard it: the voice of a vorcha.

"Garm want your pets. We take."

Amala pushed through the turians to snarl in the face of the lone vorcha blocking their path. She knew better though; there were always others hidden nearby.

"Garm can fuck off. I tell you what, you and your friends walk away and I'll let you live."

Wrex's evil chuckle had the vorcha turning nervously towards the large krogan.

"Or not," Wrex growled, "nothing like a little bloodshed to get the blood pumping."

"Blood Pack turf. Give us pets now."

"They are not pets and you say that one more time and we are done talking."

"We kill you!" the vorcha shrieked.

"Get to cover!" Amala ordered.

The turians dove into nearby doorways. Wrex head butted the delegate and while the vorcha reeled from that he pulled out his shotgun and finished him off. She glanced behind her to check that the turians were safe before turning back to the main fight. She could hear Saren barking orders at the other two over the comm.

"Head shots if you can, although if Mordin lights them on fire you can shoot them anywhere and kill them. That damn regen is almost as bad as a krogan."

"I'm insulted you compared a vorcha to me," Wrex chuckled.

With a loud roar, he charged around a few large planters, and several more vorcha spilled out from behind as they tried to avoid the krogan. Now that they were in the open, the rest of the group easily picked them off.

"Right. Double time back to the ship before this Garm sends more," Amala ordered.

They jogged through the now empty corridors, the sound of gunfire having sent everyone to ground.

**~Once more thanks to Mordinette, my long suffering beta. Thank you to all my readers for your continued support!~**


	6. Chapter 6

Their escape from Omega could be called anything but stealthy. The heavy pounding of feet as Wrex jogged along echoed in the corridors and alerted anyone nearby to their presence. They didn't stop until they reached the docking bay where the _Wildcat_ waited for them. Wrex huffed and dropped into the pilot's seat while Amala closed the hatch behind them.

"Get us out of here, EDI."

"We have clearance. Leaving now."

Amala watched as they cleared the station before finally releasing her breath. She poked Wrex with her foot.

"Getting soft, old man?"

"Look at me! Do krogan look like long distance runners?" Wrex growled back, still huffing.

"Shepard, the omni-tools?" Mordin asked.

She pulled the package out from where she had tucked it into her armor and tossed it over to him. He tucked it away, went into the back, and retrieved his medical bag. When he returned, he addressed the turians.

"Might be slightly uncomfortable; a volunteer?"

Garrus took a step towards the salarian.

"Excellent! Remove glove off of the hand you don't wish to type with."

He stripped off his left one and offered his hand to Mordin. He sanitized the site and applied a little topical deadening agent. With a careful touch, he inserted the implant just under Garrus's skin. A slight twitch of his fingers was the only sign he gave of discomfort. Mordin pulled up the interface and chose the sync function. Garrus put his free hand up to his ear and shook his head.

"Mordin, I think something is wrong," Amala said.

He typed up a few diagnostic commands and what he saw caused him to shake his head.

"Omni-tool unable to fully sync with his translator. Appears to be causing a feedback loop."

"I should be able to correct that. Place his arm with the implant near my IR port," EDI chimed in.

Amala and Mordin guided him until his arm could be placed near the port. Whatever glitch there was EDI should have been able to sort out quickly but the minutes dragged on.

"EDI, talk to me."

"I've shut down the omni-tool's syncing program. If Garrus is willing, I believe I can use that program to gain access to their translator. Once I have access I should be able to get through the encryption and fail safes around it and download the full language for our use."

Garrus gave a nod, but Saren moved up and barked something out while placing one hand over his shoulder. Garrus shrugged and held his arm in place and nodded again. Saren released him before saying one last thing to him.

"Mordin, get all the emergency supplies. If the implant goes we need to be ready."

"Detonates?"

"Yes," Amala growled.

"I will wait until Doctor Solus returns."

Mordin rushed into the back of the ship, returning in a matter of moments with the rest of the ship supplies. Amala rested her hand on Garrus's arm, pulling his attention to her.

"You don't have to do this; given enough time EDI will be able to create a mostly working template for your language," Amala said.

He nodded and gave her that quirky turian smile thing. Mordin pulled out medi-gel and bandages and laid them within easy reach.

"Ready, EDI," he stated.

"Beginning."

Wrex lumbered to his feet, his eyes watched the turian standing in front of the main console of the ship's computer. Mordin handed some bandages and medi-gel to Amala where she stood on the side that Garrus's implant was located. Garrus stood patiently as he resolutely stared out the window, watching the stars go by. He closed his eyes now and then and took a deep breath.

"Finished," EDI said with a note of satisfaction in her voice. "It took me longer than expected to break through the encryption without triggering any of the fail safes, but the good news is we now have a working copy of their language."

Garrus's breath escaped him in a whoosh when he stepped back from the console. Saren and Nihlus watched as he pulled up the interface on his tool for the first time.

"Good job, EDI. How can we update my implant so I can understand them?"

"All commercial and military grade translators allow upgrades to be accomplished easily. One moment. There - I pushed an update to all of your translators."

"That's it?"

"Yes, they all allow what they refer to as 'updates on the fly'. I merely obtained the frequency that is used and passed on the new information."

Amala looked over at Garrus, expecting him to say something. But the turian remained silent.

"Were you laughing at me this morning?" she asked him.

One mandible quirked outward before he replied, "Yes."

His voice was deep with a reverberation to it. She laughed, glad that something had gone right.

"Good; I was hoping that was what it was."

His mandibles went slack for a moment. "You understand me?"

She grinned at him. "Yep."

"Good, everyone knows what everyone else is saying," Wrex growled. "How about we head to Korlus?"

Amala cuffed Wrex on the shoulder. "Saren and Nihlus still need their omni-tools."

"After Doctor Solus puts the implant in, if you would put your implant near my port I can take care of the sync now that I know how to bypass the encryption. We don't need access to the language, but the tool does, in order not to cause any distortion. It will also allow the interface to appear in your written language as both were on the translator."

"I'll go next," Nihlus said, stepping forward.

Mordin quickly inserted the implant and Nihlus took the spot that Garrus had so recently vacated.

"What should we call you?" Amala asked.

"The names are our own," Saren growled out. "They let us keep them in an effort to get us to cooperate. I am General Saren Arterius, Commander of the 12th Legion."

"Nihlus Kryik."

"Garrus Vakarian."

"What in hell is going on? How did this happen?" Amala asked.

Saren took a deep breath.

"When the people calling themselves asari first made contact with us, it was peaceful. We found out that they were searching for remnants of an ancient race they called the protheans. From their description, it sounded like some relics that we had found on our own planet. They wished to see them. We told them perhaps later. Their persistence only caused us to resist more. The next time they returned they brought more ships and before we knew it, they had destroyed our few spaceships and all of our satellites. They've held the orbit since then."

"Why didn't they just bomb you?" Wrex asked.

"Because they didn't want to risk destroying the very things they wanted from us. We had never told them where we kept them. They've sent teams for ground strikes, but the natural radiation of our planet and resistance from our own people makes it challenging to them. And now there is a new species involved in the war."

"EDI, can you bring up pictures of all known galactic species?"

The screen in front of them flickered as picture after picture was added, creating a kaleidoscope of galactic life. Saren skimmed across each picture until the one he had waited for popped up.

"That one," he growled, pointing to one of the pictures.

"Figures," Amala muttered. "Batarian - the species that humans have been the most in conflict with. Their society is based on a caste system and slavery is a core tenet of it."

"Problematic. Known to use mental implants for complete control of captured individuals. Aggressive and considered hostile by most other galactic species," Mordin added.

"That is the very reason I've always wondered why they are still being considered for a Council spot. Of course, it makes sense now, what with the asari basically enslaving the turians."

"What you call breeding colonies are in reality prisoner camps. In the initial attacks, they captured our people and placed them in these camps. They have tried to learn where our artifacts are, but they are closely guarded secrets. Even _I_ don't know where they are. We had hoped this would protect our people, but it hasn't," Saren snarled.

"Wait, you said the artifacts were located on your planet?"

"Yes."

"Mordin, where did the salarians find theirs? Ours was on a nearby planet; we had to have space travel to get to ours."

"Ours also on a nearby planet."

"So, only the asari and the turians had prothean artifacts on their world? What does that mean?"

"STG believe that the asari home world has the most prothean relics of any known species. Correlation between location and quantity? Location and quality?"

"And they probably wanted to know if maybe the turians got something they didn't."

"Exactly. Asari domination of galactic civilization most likely due to this."

"So no one will stand up to them?" Saren snarled as his eyes narrowed at Amala.

Amala shook her head. "Our best chance lies in forcing the galaxy to see that you aren't the stupid creatures that you have been made out to be. Once that is established, the asari have to free you or the very laws they made will bite them in the ass."

"You think it will be that easy?" Saren asked.

"No. After we deal with Wrex's problem, I will contact someone I know in the Alliance and begin working that angle."

"I will see what I can uncover through old friends and contacts in the STG," Mordin added. "Will send you any information I find."

"Thanks, Mordin," Shepard said, then she turned back to Saren. "I have to ask, why aren't there more of you, you know, being sold as pets?"

"Most of us would rather die than become the submissive creature they want."

"Then how come the three of you aren't in worse shape than what I found you in?"

"Nassana was given orders to break me, as I was the highest ranking military person they had ever captured. She, however, preferred to keep me livelier as she put it."

"And when she failed in her orders, I was sent in. I guess they figured I would just leave you or kill you."

Saren nodded. "And Nihlus taught me how to survive Nassana's attentions."

"I had been with Nassana for a few months before Saren showed up. If I played the part, I found she would get bored with me quickly. I just passed on what I learned," Nihlus said, shrugging his shoulders.

"You did more than that," Saren said softly to Nihlus.

Nihlus flashed a smile at Saren before ducking his head.

"I was removed from the camp I lived at because I was considered a trouble maker," Garrus interjected. "I had only been in their 'care' for a few days before you showed up. I must admit, I thought I was hallucinating seeing one of my people with a gun," he added with a grin.

"Is there any way to contact your government?"

"With the loss of our satellites, we only have short-range radio now," Saren replied with a shake of his head.

"I would need to be in the system in order to send a message and have them receive it in a timely manner," EDI said.

"And they have the whole system blockaded," Amala said with a sigh. "We enter it and we would get blasted."

"I am finished with your omni-tool, Nihlus. You may step back."

"Thank you, EDI."

"Besides a backup form of communication what can these omni-tools do for us?" Saren asked with a hint of suspicion in his voice.

"They are basically mini-computers. Once you all have one installed, I can share some of my programs. My tactical cloak, hacking programs, and I even have an emergency beacon that sends an alert to EDI. Trust me; they are quite useful for many things. But the choice is yours."

Garrus looked up from his omni-tool interface. "I can see why everyone uses these things - so many applications and with her combat programs it can give you an advantage in lots of different situations."

"Fine. Go ahead Doctor Solus."

"Mordin is just fine, General."

"It's Saren until my feet are once more on Palaven and I can lead my troops again."

**~Great big thanks to Mordinette for all her help! And thanks to my readers, glad you are enjoying this!~**


	7. Chapter 7

Amala sat in front of one of the ship's storage bins searching for all the loose heat sinks she had thrown in it from previous missions. She looked up at the sound of boots and found all three turians approaching her. Saren moved to stand in front of the other two.

"Nihlus and Garrus wish to join us when we aid Wrex."

Amala stopped her search to give her attention to them, her arms resting on the sides of the bin. "What do you think?"

"I do not like it, not when we don't know what we will face. However, they do need combat experience."

"Agreed. Alright, we will all go then, just remember," she stated, deliberately catching the eyes of Nihlus and Garrus, "don't follow Wrex's lead, his style of combat is suited for a krogan, not the rest of us. However, if Saren or I tell you to jump, I expect you to say 'how high'."

"Of course. But we need this. To do something to help our people," Nihlus said, Garrus nodding in agreement.

"I get that. But I want you to be able to _keep_ helping your people. So with that said, start searching for more of these," she said, holding up a heatsink, "while I break out my big guns."

"Spirits! You have more weapons than what was in your apartment?" Nihlus asked.

Amala chuckled, "Oh yeah. I keep my biggest ones on the ship. They, uh, aren't suited for close combat, but for this, well, they are perfect."

She moved over to the weapon locker and pulled out her trusty Black Widow. She laid it on the nearby table set up for working on her weapons. Wrex strode into the storage room and headed to Amala with a grin on his face.

"I'll take the Cain."

Amala sighed. "Giving you the Cain sounds like a recipe for you to blow us all up."

He just laughed and held his hand out to her.

"Fine. Try to remember not to use it in an enclosed space."

She pulled the massive weapon out of the locker and handed it to the krogan.

"How much ammo we got for it?"

"Two shots, so yeah, save them for when we really need it," she told him when she handed him the spare shot.

"I assume it does a lot of damage," Saren said as he eyed the device.

"It's nicknamed the 'nuke launcher'. I've only fired it once and well, it took down a geth colossus and all the geth around it."

"Geth?"

"Ah, well, they are AI's built by the quarian race and they rebelled against their makers. They rarely leave the old quarian system, but I've run against them a few times."

Amala's fingers grazed over the stock of her rifle; it had been a while since she had needed it. She glanced up when she heard someone move in close to her. She found Garrus beside her gazing down at the rifle.

"That's an impressive gun."

She grinned. "A gift from my mentor in the Alliance when I became the first human Spectre. She's a heavy gun, but worth the weight, since a single shot will take out most anything and at a great distance. I was an infiltrator in the Alliance, so a sniper rifle was a must."

"Hmm, I wonder if I could try it out sometime."

She opened up the locker and pulled out a different rifle and handed it to him.

"That's my old Viper. It's a good one to start with."

"Are you sure?"

"Might as well take it out, it's just sitting in here gathering dust. Typically I hang back and let Wrex get in their faces and pick them off while he has them on the run."

"Thank you then. Show me how to care for it."

Together they went over the gun until he felt comfortable with it. She watched him as he broke it down and rebuilt it by himself.

"If you don't mind me asking, what did you do to end up in that cell?"

He stopped for a moment and turned to look at her. He cleared his throat while one hand rubbed at the back of his neck.

"My sister. They came for her one day. They didn't say why. She was, no, _is_ two years older than me. I figured I would be next, so I decided to start my own war. I've always had a knack with mechanical things, so I sabotaged anything and everything I could get a hold of that was theirs. At first they chalked it up to routine accidents, but eventually they figured out it had to be one of us doing it. When they confronted us, I confessed. I didn't want anyone else to be punished for what I had done."

"If we win this, I'll do everything I can to help you find your sister."

"You've already done so much for us. I'm sure you have better things to do than help me."

"Well with EDI's help, it shouldn't be that hard."

"Thank you then. I owe you more than I can ever repay."

* * *

EDI brought the ship down low, well away from the main part of the base. They had waited until the sun had started to fall below the horizon, the light a murky glow from the haze that obscured the planet. It did, however, give them some measure of cover. Metal debris lay scattered across the landscape - remnants of the ships that had been sent planetside. They quickly dropped down to the surface and the ship lifted away. They took shelter behind some of the larger pieces to regroup. Saren looked around in confusion.

"Why are we in the middle of a garbage dump?"

Wrex laughed. "Welcome to Korlus."

"This planet specializes in scavenging derelict spacecraft for parts and reselling it. So yeah, most of it looks like this," Amala explained.

Wrex made to move out of cover, but she stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"Where do you think this guy will be in the base?"

"He'll be in some sort of a lab."

"A lab? What? Who is this guy?"

"His name is Okeer. We kicked him off of Tuchanka because his experiments were too extreme even for us to take."

"How is he luring others here then?"

Wrex sighed, clearly uncomfortable with this turn of the conversation. "I intercepted one of the bulletins he targeted to our younger people. He told them that he is close to a genophage cure, but those who left to join him are never heard from again."

Amala sighed. "You know you could have told me that before, instead of lying to get my help."

"Yeah well, I didn't want you going to the Council with that information. People get twitchy when you mention a cure for the genophage and the krogan you are after in the same sentence."

Mordin snorted, "Highly unlikely he would have succeeded. Predict we will find lots of dead bodies."

Wrex growled a bit as he eyed the salarian. "Yes, I know your people are smarter than the rest of us, but can you blame us for trying?"

"Enough you two," Amala said, moving to stand between the two. "So not only do we have to deal with him, but also any of your people he lured here."

"Yeah, and don't forget the Blue Suns."

"How did he get mixed up with them?"

"Don't know, but it ends today. The krogan can't afford to loose any more of us to this monster."

"Agreed. Assume anyone we encounter is hostile."

"Just how I like it," Wrex growled. "No talking, just shooting."

They fell in behind Amala as they began the trek to the building that EDI had identified as the source of the transmissions from Okeer. The path she took lead them around as she tried to keep in cover as much as possible. Wrex grumbled but followed along.

She dropped behind what appeared to be the remnants of some ship's thruster when they finally could see the guards posted at the door nearest to them. One guard leaned lazily against the wall while the other paced in a small circle. She pulled out her rifle and used the scope to get a better look.

"Hey, Garrus, pull out that rifle I gave you and come up here. I think we found someone for you to practice on."

She felt rather than saw him move into position next to her. Her focus was on the roving member of the guards as she pieced together the pattern of his movements.

"See that one nearly asleep against the wall? He's your mark. Aim for high on his chest and be ready to shoot when I say go. If you miss, you may have enough time to get a second shot off, so don't panic. As soon as both guards are down, we all run for the door."

"Got him," Garrus murmured.

"Right," she said, lining up her own target in her scope. A few more breaths and she was ready. "Ready...Go!"

The twin reports from the rifles cracked across the area. Wrex bolted from cover first, leading the group as he sprinted towards the door. Garrus and Amala were the last to cross the space. Garrus stopped at the door and knelt down to check the human that had been his mark.

"Damn. That's not where I was aiming," he said, frustration evident in his tone.

Amala clapped him on the shoulder. "He's down. I call it good shooting. I have a feeling you'll get lots more practice."

His mandibles flared in a grin but his eyes were narrowed in anger. "Yeah, just show me where those bastards are that took my sister and I'll happily practice all day on them."

Mordin already had the door opened and they rushed through, guns at the ready. Luck appeared to be on their side for the moment, as nothing moved in the hallway they entered. Amala winced at the amount of noise they made, but there was nothing that could be done about it - krogan just weren't made for stealth.

"We need to find a terminal so I can link EDI to their system and we can have an idea of where we need to go in here."

They surged down the corridor, methodically checking behind any doors with weapons at the ready. The doors so far had only revealed storage rooms. They came to the first intersection and Amala swore under her breath. Neither direction gave any indication of what lay beyond.

"We should split up. Cover more ground that way," Wrex said.

"We don't know how many of their units are currently located here or where our target is. On top of that, two of us have limited experience in a firefight. No, safer to stay together for now."

With that said, Amala decided to head right and the others followed behind her. She could still hear Wrex grumbling a bit, but he would fall in line. One of the doors further down the hallway opened up and a merc stepped out. He appeared to have been sleeping as he was in loose clothing and too busy rubbing his eyes to notice at first who had woken him.

"Janders, I swear," he began. Surprise crossed his features before he attempted to dive back into his room.

Saren and Amala were the first to pull their pistols and he went down under their shots. They quickly dragged the body back into the room he had just left only a moment ago.

"Shepard, they are going to know we are here now," Wrex growled.

"I know. Come on, we need to find a terminal, now more than ever."

They continued on, finding a few more mercs off shift, asleep in their rooms. They were executed quickly before they moved along. Saren moved up to walk beside Amala.

"Are these mercenaries always so poorly disciplined?" The disdain in his voice carried well across the translator.

"No, but I bet they weren't expecting an assault on one of their bases and that made them lax on security. I don't expect that to hold for long though; eventually someone is going to hear our shots."

Two doors down they finally found a room with a terminal. They ducked inside, Saren and Wrex guarding the door while Amala linked the base's system to EDI.

"Schematics are downloading to the omni-tools. There are two labs most likely to be where Okeer is located. Also, there is only a skeleton crew currently on site. Most of the units are out on missions; however, they are expected to return by the morning."

"Thanks, EDI. Any idea on why the Blue Suns would work with Okeer?"

"From the notes I have accessed, Okeer promised them the support of all krogan he cured. He also believed he would be able to bring the krogan of Tuchanka under his rule by holding the cure over their heads. To date, none have survived the process."

"Okay, we'll hit the closest lab and then if he isn't there, go to the next one."

They moved a little quicker now that they knew where they were going. The door to the area that EDI had indicated displayed the red locked icon. Amala opened the panel and began the process of bypassing the lock. Wrex stood beside her, shotgun in hand, a feral grin on his face as he waited to open the door. Saren and Mordin took up spots to watch the hall for any sign of movement.

"Got it."

The panel turned green and Wrex hit it and was already moving into the room as soon as the door opened enough for him to get through. Amala followed behind him, but they all came to a halt mid-stride. This might have been classified as a lab, but it was obvious it had since been turned into a morgue. Dead krogan lay on gurneys stacked all over the room. Mordin already had his omni-tool busy, scanning those closest to him.

Wrex snarled as he surveyed the bodies of his people. Dead on this world at the hand of one of their own.

"We have to stop him, Shepard. Look at what he did! He killed them and left them here to rot."

"We will, Wrex. Come on."

Wrex strode down the hall, the others following behind him. They arrived at the other designated lab without incident. The panel indicated the door was unlocked and Wrex slapped his hand over the plate. The door slid open to find a large krogan, his hands deep inside another krogan strapped to a table. The one on the table was still alive if the roll of his eyes was any indication.

Wrex roared and slammed the butt of his shotgun into the side of Okeer's head. Okeer staggered, but with a snarl of his own he turned to face his enemy. Now that Okeer was away from the krogan he had been working on, Wrex blasted him with his shotgun. Amala joined Wrex in unloading her weapon into Okeer. He snarled and attempted to charge her, but Wrex blocked him and with a crash of his head sent him reeling back once more. Her pistol whined when it overheated, but the krogan had finally fallen by then. She popped out the heatsink and put in a fresh one, just in case.

Mordin moved up to view the victim on the table. A few scans showed the krogan in question had expired.

"He was awake the whole time?" Garrus asked with a shudder.

"Redundant aspects of nervous system make krogan difficult to anesthetize," Mordin told him.

With one foot, Wrex prodded the dead body on the floor. Amala placed one hand on his arm.

"Come on, let's get out of here before the rest of the base returns."

"He wasted my people's lives. Did he even learn anything?"

"Unsure. Will analyze data when we are back on the ship," Mordin said softly.

The mood on the way back out was somber.

**~Thanks to Mordinette for all her help! And thank you to all the readers for your support!~**


	8. Chapter 8

Amala stood just inside the hatch of the ship; the hot wind of Tuchanka stirred her hair while she watched Wrex. His people were already greeting him. A few head butts to sort out things, but overall they seemed happy to see him back. He caught Amala's eye.

"The krogan will be ready when you call for us."

"Thanks, Wrex. I'll keep you posted."

She shut the hatch and felt the ship lift off from the surface. The _Wildcat_ was just a little less crowded now that they had dropped off Wrex. Mordin had been left on Illium earlier. Both of them had their own mission with their own people. Now she had to do her part. The turians were in the back for the moment, but the last thing she wanted was anyone with Anderson to see them.

"EDI, can you get Admiral Anderson on the line? Voice only."

"Of course. One moment."

"Shepard?" Anderson's voice crackled over the link.

"Anderson, I need to meet with you. Preferably picking you up somewhere."

"What is this about?"

"All I can say is it's damn important."

"That's all I get?"

"For the moment. You'll understand when we meet."

"I'll meet you at the Citadel then."

"Actually, sir, Alliance space or even the Attican traverse would be better."

"What in hell is going on?"

"Sir, I'm sorry I can't say any more. Not on an open line."

"Dammit, it's bad when you start sir'ing me. Fine, pick me up at Arcturus station in one galactic day. This had better be good."

"Thank you."

She disconnected the call with a sigh of relief. She heard the thud of the boots that heralded the arrival of at least one turian. She looked over her shoulder to find Saren standing in the hatch to the cockpit.

"Were you able to secure a meeting?"

"Yes. He wasn't happy about not getting any details, but he agreed. We will head to the station that houses my people's government and military and pick him up there."

"Can he truly help us?"

"He just recently made Admiral and he has pull with several other prominent military leaders. If nothing else, he should at least be able to tell me who to see to get the ball rolling. More importantly, I trust him."

Saren nodded to Amala before glancing back to see where the other two were at.

"I fear my friends have unrealistic expectations and they will be disappointed. I do not know how you will be able to convince your people to enter a war that gains them nothing."

Amala ruffled her hair for a moment.

"I won't lie. This is bound to be a hard sell, but if nothing else, I promise to do whatever I can."

"Then all I can ask is return us to Palaven so we may at least stand with our fellow turians to the last."

Amala shook her head. "That may be just as impossible as anything else. Breaking through that blockade and making it to the surface of Palaven in one piece would take a miracle."

A frustrated growl escaped him, his mandibles held tightly to his face.

"I cannot sit out here idly while my people are at war."

She didn't know what to tell him. He was one of his people's military leaders and trapped far away from where the fighting was.

"Perhaps I might make a suggestion," EDI said.

"Might as well. What do you have in mind?" Amala asked.

"If Admiral Anderson is unable to secure the aid we need, perhaps we could attempt to liberate a prisoner camp. Then expose the truth by pushing through an update of the turian language across the galaxy. I could probably hack at least one news channel and then we broadcast the General explaining the travesty that has been dealt to his people. Let them see that the turians are victims of a conspiracy and why."

Saren cocked his head a bit. Amala watched him, waiting for what his response would be. It wasn't a great plan, but it might be a good start. Omega would probably be their only safe refuge afterwards, and she used that term loosely. She doubted the Alliance would allow them in their space while they conducted such attacks.

"Yes, that would at least get the truth out there. My thanks, EDI. You would be a dangerous foe and I am glad you are on our side," Saren said.

"It will take us a galactic day to get there, so enjoy the peace while you have it. I have a feeling when things start to happen, it will be fast," Amala told him.

"Very true. I'll inform the others of our plans."

Saren nodded to her before striding to the back storage room they had converted into a makeshift quarters for them. Amala turned back to watch the stars and relax. It wasn't long before she heard the tell-tale stomp of turian booted feet coming towards her. A glance over her shoulder revealed it was Garrus who now approached her. He glanced at the co-pilot seat and she waved him to sit down.

"Do you mind if I stay up here?"

"Of course not. I figured Saren would have been briefing you guys on what's next on our schedule."

"Oh, he did that. And, well, then he asked if I minded giving them some privacy for a bit."

That had Amala turning to give him her full attention.

"So, uh, they are together then? I mean, I knew they were close, but I didn't realize it was like that."

"Is that a problem?"

She laughed for a moment. "No, I guess I am not as good at reading turian body language as I thought."

He grinned. "Oh, we are more subtle than that. It's the undertones that give that away, well, at least to another turian."

She shook her head and laughed a bit more. She had always prided herself on being able to read others well, a skill she had honed by necessity. It looked like she would have to learn a whole new spectrum, but luckily she had three on hand she could study. A gentle cough brought her attention back to the one sitting beside her.

"I guess I should apologize to you then," she said with a grin.

He cocked his head, his eyes full of confusion.

"For what?"

She chuckled for a moment before replying. "Well, I did suggest to him he enjoy the quiet while he could. I just didn't realize he would be booting you out to do it."

His laughter joined hers.

"You know, I wasn't really laughing at you the other day," he said, his eyes watching her. "I was laughing at the irony of the situation."

"Huh?"

"I had been held in chains for at least a couple of days. Only a few dying people for company before my captors would come in and torture me before leaving me alone once more. So imagine my surprise when I wake up after sleeping in a real bed and I find someone alive pressed against me. Your head tucked under my chin, the feel of your warm breath against my neck. And your skin...It is so different from ours and I'm not real sure what that stuff on top of your head is."

One hand pointed up to the hair on top of her head.

Amala smiled. "Hair. It's called hair."

"Right, so yeah, there was this warm body pressed against me. It was nice and your embarrassment at the situation was ironic. You were worried about offending me, and well, I found it rather enjoyable. I was afraid I had dreamed the whole rescue."

"I hadn't planned on sharing a bed with you, but Mordin drugged me and dropped me in next to you. You were so nice and warm and then I discovered I was plastered to you. I had hoped I hadn't, you know," she stopped for a moment and ran a hand over her face, "groped you."

A delighted laugh escaped him. "No, you managed to avoid touching any of my, uh, more sensitive areas. Although, if you had rubbed your face on my neck...," he said with a grin.

"That's good to know," she said. She was glad her darker skin didn't show the flush that creeped up and into her cheeks. "I don't want Saren yelling at me because I accosted one of his people."

"I don't think I would report you for such a minor offense."

"I was just glad to hear you laugh. I was worried that maybe you had been broken. You were so quiet when you first came on board."

"I was exhausted and still reeling from everything that Nihlus and Saren had told me."

"I bet."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Now that I know your species is called humans, there was one in my cell. The body looked different than yours. Was that a male?"

"Yes. Do you know what he was being held for?"

"No, he was incoherent already when I was put in there."

"But I'm curious; his hair was short, like yours, but a different color, and his skin was lighter. Is that normal, or was it because he was dying?"

She shook her head with a smile. "No, humans have a lot of variety. EDI, can you put up pictures of humans with different natural hair and skin colors?"

The console lit up with an array of pictures, showing people from all over Earth. Garrus studied the pictures intently.

"The hair comes in different lengths, too? Sometimes one of us has a fringe a little shorter or longer than normal, but we don't have such differences like this."

"It depends on how long the person wants to grow it to. Mine used to be longer, but I shaved it when I had to go in disguise once. EDI, can you show him one of my earlier service pictures?"

Amala groaned when she saw what EDI had chosen. Garrus leaned in close, studying the picture.

"What is that from?"

"An award ceremony."

"For what?"

"Amala Shepard received the Star of Terra for her actions during the Skyllian Blitz," EDI chimed in.

"A war you were involved in?"

"No...well, sort of. A bunch of slavers and pirates banded together and attempted to destroy the colony of Elysium. I was on shore leave with some other soldiers, and we rallied the people to hold them off until reinforcements arrived."

"Oh, so all of you received this award."

"Actually, Amala is being too modest. By all accounts, she was the reason the colony held out. She was the only one awarded the Star," EDI said.

"It wasn't like that, and you know you were supposed to be showing a picture with my longer hair. You can't even see it there, it's all tucked up!"

EDI helpfully threw another picture up on the terminal. This one had Amala on a dance floor; she had her arms up and her hair was in a braid that was moving with her. At least this picture showed her hair from when it was longer. Amala groaned when she recognized it though.

"How did you get this?"

"I believe Admiral Anderson sent a copy of this to you. Since it came through the ship I saved a copy to a hard drive."

Garrus grinned at her before he turned to look at it again. "What is this one from?"

"Ugh, a night of too much drinking after that ceremony you saw."

"Oh good, my people will fit right in," he said with a laugh. "We like to celebrate enough that it hurts the next day. When we are free once more, Palaven will be gripped by a celebration that will be talked about for years."

"I would like to see that," she said softly. But even more she could only hope that he would have the chance to have a real life.

**~Thanks once more to Mordinette for all her help! And thank you to all the readers who are enjoying this!~**


	9. Chapter 9

Amala sat alone in the pilot's chair. She had asked the turians to wait in the back, preferring to introduce them to Anderson away from the hatch and anyone who might be nearby. She would get one shot at making a case for them, but she knew Saren would be beside her, fighting fiercely for his people as well. She watched as Anderson strode towards her ship with two guards flanking him. That might be a problem. She opened the hatch and couldn't help smiling at her old friend.

"Anderson, it's good to see you."

"Shepard," he replied with a nod.

Ah, he was still a bit pissed about her cryptic statements. She blocked the guards when they moved to follow him onboard.

"We aren't going anywhere, sir. I just need someplace safe to talk."

He nodded and the pair moved to stand guard outside the ship. She closed the hatch and turned to face Anderson.

"All set, EDI?"

"His translator software has been updated."

The sigh that slipped out from him was one of frustration.

"Talk to me, Shepard. What is this all about?"

"I have some people I want you to meet, but you needed that update to understand them. Follow me."

She made her way back to the galley. Saren sat in one of the chairs, Nihlus and Garrus standing on either side of him. Anderson stopped just inside the doorway.

"Admiral Anderson, I would like for you to meet General Saren Arterius of the 12th Legion. That is Nihlus Kryik and Garrus Vakarian on either side of him."

Anderson's mouth opened and shut for a moment as he attempted to process the information just thrown at him.

"Admiral," Saren said with a nod.

Anderson dropped into an empty chair. The implications of this were staggering, and Shepard had just dropped this bomb in his lap.

"Shepard, a glass of water, please. I'd ask for something stronger, but I think I'll need my wits about me."

A glass of water appeared beside his hand and he took a gulp. Nihlus placed a glass down for Saren as well.

"General." He nodded to Saren before he downed another swallow of water. "Shepard, how in hell did you end up with software that I know doesn't exist?"

"Oh, it exists, Anderson. It's on each of their translator implants. EDI was able to bypass the fail-safes and download it for us to use."

"Fail-safes?"

"Yes, if you try and remove the implant it explodes," Amala answered.

"Son-of-a... I have a lot of questions, General."

"I will answer what I can, but I have not been on Palaven for at least a month."

Saren retold the same tale he had told Shepard, stopping only when Anderson interrupted with a question. Amala wasn't sure how long they had been talking; she only knew that her and Nihlus had refilled the water glasses for both of them several times.

Anderson stood up and paced for a moment while he pondered the implications of everything he had just learned. Coming to a decision, he turned to face the turians.

"Just the other day I had Ambassador Udina calling me in an uproar. Apparently, the salarian councilor contacted him and wanted to know what we had done to piss off the asari. The asari councilor is apparently pushing for the salarians to accept the batarians as the next member of the council."

"WHAT?" Amala exclaimed. "If the batarians get on the council-"

Anderson held up a hand. "I'm well aware of the problems. But now I think I know why. My guess is the asari are aware of your activities with the turians and are afraid of what might happen should this come to light."

"Sir! We have to do something now!"

"This isn't like just freeing a few slaves. We are talking about a system under blockade with an extensive ground war going on planet-side."

"The krogan have agreed to come to the turians' aid. We will have krogan troops to bolster our own," Amala began.

"Which we will have to fetch."

"Well, yes. But if we don't free the turians, when the asari decide that they want something of ours, who will stand with us then? When slavery is declared legal and we have to watch as our people are paraded on the Citadel as slaves, whom will we turn to then? I think it will be too late for us then," she snarled.

"Trust me. I'm with you on this. But we need to present this before the Parliament and the Prime Minister. We need them to see the implications of letting this situation going on and how that affects us. Not only is this the correct thing to do, but we have to do this if we wish to keep our people free. Do you have a copy of their language?"

"I do, several in fact. I have a contact on the salarian side, Dr. Mordin Solus. He was in the STG and is trying to dig up what he can and he has several copies as well. Even if they kill us, they won't be able to stop the truth from coming out."

"And they just might commit genocide to stop this from escalating any further," Anderson stated.

"He is right. Their desire for our artifacts will eventually be outstripped by their need to keep what has happened hidden. When that happens, Palaven and my people will be destroyed utterly," Saren said.

"I'm going to see if I can get an emergency meeting with the Prime Minister. If I can, all of you need to be ready to go in a moment's notice. General, you'll have to repeat your story, probably a few times if I know our politicians."

"I will tell the story as many times as I have to. I thank you for your help," Saren said.

Saren stood and gave the other human a small nod. Anderson returned the gesture. He found the turian impressive; he had never had the chance to get close to one before. Now, he was glad to be on the side of ally versus enemy.

"All I have to say is you were damn lucky to fall in with Shepard. She's one of our best and considered a hero by our own people; her support buys you more than she might think. Keep the lines open Shepard, I'll be in contact."

Anderson strode out already sending messages on his omni-tool, leaving the turians and Shepard breathing a sigh of relief. An idea popped into Amala's head from Anderson's praise. She needed to don another kind of armor.

"I'll be right back," she told them.

She rushed into her cabin and threw open the wardrobe. She pawed through it until she came to her Alliance dress blues. Armor was her comfortable choice, but she needed to remind the politicians who she was and what she stood for. It almost felt like a return to her younger years as she dressed in her old uniform.

The turians had been busy while she had been changing. Saren had the other two standing at attention as he checked them over, making sure their armor was polished.

"Good, glad to see you are ready to go."

"The uniform of your people?" Saren asked.

"Yes, I thought it might be good to remind them I'm not just a Council Spectre but also an Alliance soldier."

She caught Garrus's grin as he took in the sight of her Star of Terra medal that took up half of her chest. She waved one hand at it.

"I know. It has its own gravitational pull. Or would you rather ask about the mass effect field it can generate?"

"It truly can do such a thing?" Nihlus asked.

Amala laughed, "No, those are the jokes we made about it when I first received it. Some stupid politician thought it should be viewable from orbit or some such bullshit."

The alert from her omni-tool saved her from having to explain any more. Anderson's voice came over the link.

"Shepard, I have an escort coming to bring you and your guests to the Prime Minister's chambers. They should be there momentarily."

"Understood. We are ready."

The sound of a hand rapping on the hatch of the ship alerted them that their escort had arrived. Amala opened the door to find a face she hadn't seen in a long time.

"Ah, Alenko. Major, isn't it?"

The man smiled at her. "Good to see you, Shepard. I guess I shouldn't be surprised you remembered me and got my rank right."

"Anderson tries to keep me up to date."

"Lieutenant Vega and I are here to escort you and your guests to a meeting."

She nodded to the second man, easily twice the size of Alenko. She stepped out of the hatch first, Saren and then the others following behind her.

She heard the one called Vega suck in his breath.

"_Ay Dios Mio_," Vega whispered.

"Well, that explains why the security cameras are turned off and the route is empty."

"It's a need to know basis, Major. Lead on."

"Yes, Spectre Shepard. This way."

The hallways were eerily silent as they traversed the station. The usual traffic had been redirected allowing their route to be clear. The conference room the two men took them to was one of the larger ones she had been in. Military personnel and politicians milled about, but all activity stopped when they entered. Ambassador Udina had even been brought in through the vid-com.

"Agent Shepard, what is the meaning of this?" Udina shouted.

"Admiral Anderson, have the updates been issued?" Amala asked, ignoring the bluster of the Ambassador for the moment.

"Yes, I had Udina manually update his as well."

Amala nodded and moved to stand in the center of the room, the turians shadowing her.

"As a Spectre I'm expected to uphold the laws of the Galactic Council. One of those being how slavery is forbidden to the Council races. I present to you evidence that the asari are violating the very law they made. May I introduce to you General Saren Arterius of the 12th Legion of Palaven and his companions Nihlus Kryik and Garrus Vakarian."

She bowed and moved to allow Saren to move to the front.

"My name is General Saren Arterius as Agent Shepard has informed you, and I am here to ask for help for my people. The asari and now the batarians have staged a war on my world for the control of the prothean artifacts we have. Agent Shepard found me being held as a _slave_ by an asari who had been ordered to break me. She failed, as you can see."

The din of voices rose as the humans overcame their disbelief that they were in fact listening to a turian speak. Saren held up a hand, which had the desired effect of lowering the volume of noise in the room.

"I will answer your questions, but please, one at a time."

Amala lost track of the time. A chair had been brought over for the General to use and a small table with water for him. Eventually, the questions trailed off. The Prime Minister levered himself out of his chair.

"Agent Shepard, if you would escort your guests back to your ship, we will begin to discuss this."

"Sir, with all due respect, we don't have time to debate this. The asari are pushing for the batarians to be the next Council member. If that happens, our colonies can be expected to be raided on a regular basis, and do you want to explain to your people why we have to allow those taken to be paraded as slaves openly on the Citadel?"

"I'm aware of the issues."

"Then we need to strike before the asari can destroy Palaven and its people completely in order to hide the atrocity done to them!"

"Stand down, soldier! Your reputation and your status is the only reason I haven't thrown you out of here already."

Saren leaped to his feet. This was what he had feared, even his people's politicians were known for debating when action was needed. He moved to stand beside Shepard. Admiral Anderson joined Shepard on the other side of her, the three of them coming to a similar accord; an agreement needed to be made now.

"Shepard is right, and I think I have a way to get us more intel that I know you want. The _Normandy_ - she's ready for her maiden flight. If she performs as expected we should be able to get in the system, get the information we need, and even drop the General and his companions back on Palaven," Anderson said, standing beside Amala.

"Do it, Admiral, and send them back with that new proto-type QEC. General, I expect that the aid your people need will be coming within a few weeks."

Anderson nodded to Amala and they strode out of the room. Saren and the others followed behind. As soon as they were outside, Amala stopped, causing the whole party to come to a halt.

"Anderson, get the _Wildcat_ on board this ship. I'll personally deliver the General and provide whatever support I can to his people."

Anderson flashed a smile at her. "I had already planned on it. Major, clear the Mako out of the cargo bay and anything else that can be moved. I want every inch of the ship packed with all the weapons you can requisition, and at least several months of dry rations for Shepard on board as well. And we need that new QEC as well. God only knows how long it will take us to win the ground war."

"I believe that with your support we will take Palaven back fairly quickly. My people are expected to serve in the military upon adulthood. It is how we have survived so long; the asari didn't expect the whole population to rise up against them," Saren stated.

"Then let's get moving. As soon as we get the _Wildcat_ on board, we'll be underway."

**~Thanks once more to Mordinette for all her help! And thank you to the readers, your enthusiasm for this story makes me deliriously happy!~**


	10. Chapter 10

Anderson escorted Amala and the turians back to her ship, although his focus had been more on issuing orders getting the_ Normandy_ ready for departure. If he wasn't barking something into his comm link, he was handing it off to Alenko, who took it all in stride. All too soon, they were back at the _Wildcat_. Amala waited at the hatch while the others boarded ahead of her.

"Thank you, Anderson. For everything."

He laughed a little. "I don't think you'll be thanking me when we drop you onto a planet in the middle of a war."

"Hell, it will be just like N7 training. A walk in the park," she said with a grin.

"You keep thinking that, Shepard. I'll forward you the coordinates to rendezvous with the _Normandy_."

"We'll be there, sir."

She closed the hatch behind her only to find the turians all jammed in the cockpit area. Garrus's mandibles twitched, making her think that he especially seemed to be excited by the prospect of their mission.

"Hey EDI, I hear Palaven is nice this time of year. How do you feel about a vacation there?" Amala said with a little laugh.

"I'm sure you will enjoy dodging bullets while you have a nice visit at the local spa."

"You know me; the day isn't the same without a chance of death. Seriously, though, Anderson is going to pick us up on a prototype ship. The Alliance has been working on a stealth drive and they think they can get us to Palaven in one piece."

"This QEC machine what is it? And how will it help us?" Saren asked.

"QEC stands for quantum entanglement communicator. The first machine will remain with the Alliance while we take the second to Palaven with us. With it, we will be able to have instant communication with them across the galaxy."

"They are usually very bulky, Amala. I do not see how they will get that on board the _Wildcat_," EDI stated.

"It's a prototype. I assume they managed to make it smaller for use in the field."

"Excellent! That will be an advantage for us," Saren said.

"Yes, and I bet my Prime Minister will want to talk with whoever is leading your people."

"It was Primarch Fedorian when I was captured, but the situation may have changed by now," Saren said.

The _Wildcat_ left its berth on the station and headed to the coordinates Anderson had forwarded to them. Although the _Wildcat_ was considered a corvette class, she was on the smaller size for that type. Amala had taken the ship from a drug runner and modified it for her use. Once at the rendezvous point, they sat and waited.

It was a little crowded in the cockpit, but none of them wanted to miss the first glimpse of the ship that could hopefully get them to Palaven in one piece. There was no telling how long it would be before the Normandy showed up. That ship would need to be stocked with everything they needed before it could leave the station.

A sleek silver and black frigate class ship approached where theirs waited, _Normandy_ emblazoned on her side.

"I see her. But I thought she had a stealth drive?" Garrus asked, tearing his eyes away from the view to look at Amala.

"From what Anderson has told me, this ship is able to hide its heat signature for several hours at a time and, since most vessels rely on heat scanners to find enemy ships, it should be undetectable. That should be long enough to get us onto Palaven. Visual spotting is difficult to do to begin with, and weapons systems need a precise location, so in theory this should work. So unless she comes out of the relay right on top of another ship, we should be able to scoot past the blockade."

As they watched, the cargo hold door lowered down. Once it had opened all the way, the _Wildcat_ began its approach. The closer they got to the bigger ship the more Amala had to stop from cringing. The fit was going to be tight, but if anyone could pull off such a crazy maneuver, it would be EDI.

"Is this ship even going to fit?" Garrus whispered.

"Of course it will. I would not risk my ship if I did not know it would," EDI stated.

True to her word, the ship fit in the cargo hold barely. Maybe five feet separated the hatch from the wall of the bay. Amala had barely got the hatch open before Anderson and Alenko were there.

"Come on, we don't have a lot of time and we need to go over last minute plans while my people load the ship up," Anderson said.

The four of them left the _Wildcat_ and as they neared the elevator, it opened and crewmembers exited it, hauling heavy crates slung between them. They rode the elevator up and when the doors opened, they had to dodge yet more people carrying supplies. Anderson led them to his personal cabin; at the moment it was perhaps the only spot with some quiet.

"I know it's a little crowded in here, but we will be out of the way at least. I want to make sure you are aware that once the Wildcat leaves this ship, you are on your own. My orders are to get into the system, get the information, and get out. We can't provide any support. If you would rather not chance it, you are welcome to stay on board and we will drop you off after we break the blockade."

"If Shepard is willing, I need to be on the ground and let my people know that they are not alone and that your people are not simply another set of invaders. Garrus, Nihlus, perhaps you two should stay on board," Saren said.

"No," the two turians blurted out nearly simultaneously.

"If you are going, then I'm going," Nihlus growled, his eyes narrowed at Saren. "You are not leaving me behind." His sub-vocals hummed with anger at Saren's suggestion.

"Same for me," Garrus added, his arms crossed in front of him, his gaze steady on Saren.

The tension built as Saren opened his mouth as if he was about to argue with Nihlus.

"Then it's settled we will all take our chances. Get us as close as you can and well, I think EDI will get to test her belief that she is a superior pilot to an organic," Amala interrupted.

Saren gave a brief nod, conceding defeat. Anderson released the breath he had been holding; he had been afraid that Saren was about to have his own people mutiny on him.

"Admiral Hackett has the other half of the QEC. As soon as you can, check in with him. We can keep you updated on our plans that way."

"Right. I already told Mordin and Wrex that you are their new contact as I will be out of communication range."

"Good. Any questions?"

Amala shook her head and glanced over at Saren. His mandibles were tight against his face, but after a moment they relaxed and he stood straight and tall again.

"Admiral, with whatever authority I might have left, on behalf of the Turian Hierarchy, I thank you for all your help. We may be damaged now, but when we have rebuilt we will proudly stand with the humans should you ever need us."

Anderson offered his hand and Saren looked a little perplexed at first, but placed his hand in the humans. Anderson gave him a grin and gave his hand a dignified shake.

"That's all we can ask for: that someone would come to our aid if the situation were reversed."

They had barely left Anderson's quarters when Nihlus lightly touched Saren's arm and with an angry toss of his head, he indicated for the other turian to follow him. As soon as they were out of earshot of the others, Nihlus rounded on Saren.

"After everything, how could you even suggest that I stay behind?" he hissed, his eyes flashing in anger.

Saren dipped his head down and lowered his voice so that only Nihlus could hear him. "It was because of everything. I would rather know you are safe here than risk your life on something that will in all likelihood be a suicide run."

"Palaven needs all of us! And I will stand proudly by your side through it all, or are you ashamed that I still wear the marks of my capture?"

Saren growled a little. "You know that is not true! The only shame I bear is my own. I am a general and I was captured!"

"You were caught while you tried to give your troops enough time to retreat; there is no shame there!"

"And the only reason I was never marked was because they handed me directly to Nassana." With one talon, he delicately traced the sweeping arc of one of the cream-colored lines that graced Nihlus's face. "Your mark though, it shows you are a survivor and I would never think less of you for it."

"You have no idea," Nihlus said, his voice soft. He dropped his eyes downward.

"What? You've never spoken of it before; what happened?"

"At first, we were given simple marks to signify that we had been 'processed', but when they discovered that it took a great deal to make their ink stick to our plates and that the process was excruciating for us, well, then it became an art form of torture. The first mark I was given was removed, again not a pleasant process. These marks that I now wear, they took their time placing and I refused to give them the satisfaction of crying out. After that, they thought for sure I knew something since I refused to beg them to stop. That was how I ended up with Nassana."

"All of our people are treated this way?" Saren growled out.

"They leave the children alone at least. However, they are used as hostages against their parents. In some ways, being sent to Nassana was better than staying in the camp."

"No one has ever returned from a camp before, so none of us knew. They will pay," Saren said, his voice low and menacing. He held Nihlus's face in his hands, his icy blue eyes promising retribution for Nihlus.

"Then stop trying to shield me. Sooner or later, I will be in the fight and those of us who were taken will be returned to Palaven. Each and every one of us still bearing the marks of our capture."

"And we will mourn those that were lost and celebrate those that were returned to us. And together we will find our way in this new galaxy."

* * *

Amala watched for a moment as Nihlus and Saren ducked into an out of the way spot for a chat. Perhaps chat was not quite the right word. Garrus noticed where she was looking and grinned at her look of curiosity.

"You know, I was a little surprised you two stood up for yourselves quite so vehemently. You both tend to defer to what Saren says."

"His mistake; he termed it more as a request," Garrus said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Had it been an order, well, I still would have said something. It's my life and I will return to help my people if I can."

"Ah. Well it looks as if Nihlus is going to give him an earful."

Garrus gave a rumbling laugh. "That is for sure. By asking him to stay behind it sort of indicates he doesn't think him capable."

"No, I think Saren cares about him and was just trying to protect him. After all, there is no guarantee any of us will make it to the surface."

"True, but should it not be our choice?"

Amala shrugged her shoulders and headed to the ramp that led up to the CIC. Garrus paced alongside her when he could, though they frequently had to press against the sides as humans bustled about carrying supplies.

"Where are we going?" Garrus asked.

"I thought we would go check out the cockpit while we wait."

Garrus nodded. He had noticed a few humans that stopped to gape at him. He couldn't really blame them; he wanted nothing more than to check out every last one of them and every inch of this new ship. From the pictures EDI had shown him he had expected a great variety of colors, but they seemed to be variants of the same color schemes. But he also didn't want to fall behind Amala, so he looked around when he could and kept walking.

**~Thank you Mordinette for all your help! And thank you to the readers, I'm delighted you are enjoying this!~**


	11. Chapter 11

The cockpit seemed to be one of the few areas that held only a few people. Two men occupied the pilot and co-pilot seats. The heavier footfall of Garrus's boots alerted them to their arrival. One man wore an old-fashioned baseball type hat; he swiveled around to see who was intruding on his workspace.

"Holy shit. Commander Shepard. Err, Agent Shepard," said the ball cap wearing man. "And one huge ass alien," he said under his breath as his gaze traveled up the long lines of the turian.

Amala raised one eyebrow at the man's rambling. "Shepard is fine, and this is Garrus Vakarian."

"Uh, Jeff Moreau. Pilot. Most people call me Joker."

"I'm Chief Navigator Pressly," the other man stated. "It's an honor to have you on board, ma'am."

Garrus looked about, his head cocked, obviously listening for something. After a few moments he turned to Amala.

"Amala, don't they have a version of EDI?"

Amala laughed. "No, they don't. EDI is one of a kind."

"Holy shit, I mean, I knew Admiral Anderson had me update our translator software, but I had no idea it was for them," Joker said.

"Mmm, yes, contrary to popular galactic information they are a sentient species," Amala replied, a little of the anger of that whole situation coming through in her words.

"So, uh, Edi? What's an Edi?" Joker asked.

"My pilot."

"So, uh, your pilot hangs on the ceiling or something, because that's where your friend was looking."

"EDI is an A.I."

Joker's mouth dropped open. "Seriously? You're going to trust an A.I. to get you safely down to a planet under siege?"

"She's saved my life several times. If anyone can get us safely down, it's her."

Joker snorted in disbelief. "It's your funeral."

"Possibly, but it won't be because of her. How close to Palaven do you think you can get?"

"We know the layout of the system, so Admiral Anderson has requested we head to the far side of the planet, and that is where we will open the bay door and then you are on your own."

"How long until we hit the relay?"

"Two hours. Once we come out, it's about 45 minutes to reach the far side while at stealth drive speed."

Amala nodded at him. "Thank you, Joker. I'll be sure and let EDI know that you think your flying skills are superior."

"No, no, NO! I do not want some A.I. targeting me for retribution because I bad-mouthed them."

Amala leaned down closer to him. "I can hook her up to your system for you. I'm sure you could share tips or something."

Joker's face paled for a moment at the thought of an A.I. let loose in the _Normandy's_ systems. Whatever he was going to say was interrupted by the arrival of Major Alenko.

"Ah, there you are, Shepard. Anderson said everything is stowed onto your ship, but he would like you to go see Dr. Chakwas before you head to the cargo bay."

"Thanks, Major. I'll head down now. You want to stay here, Garrus, or come with me?"

"Right behind you, Amala," Garrus said.

Garrus had barely turned to follow Amala when he stopped once more.

"Did you hear that? That turian is on a first name basis with Agent Shepard. Did you know her first name, Kaidan?" Joker whispered urgently.

"I know it from her files. It's not that big of a deal, Joker," Kaidan Alenko said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Yes, but would you use her first name?"

"Oh, hell no. Not unless she told me I could."

"Exactly."

Garrus jogged to catch up to Amala, chuckling to himself. He had thought to say something, but decided he didn't know enough about humans to guess what might be okay.

"Hear anything interesting?"

"Yes, they are speculating on the fact I used your first name. Should I not use it?"

Amala laughed, "No, its okay. Alenko I only knew from when I was in the Alliance, and we never entered that first name basis sort of friendship. The other two, I have never met before."

Only one person moved about the med-bay, and Amala assumed that was the good doctor herself.

"Doctor Chakwas?" Amala asked upon entering the room.

"Ah, yes, Agent Shepard. Please come in. And one of our guests with you, I see."

"Garrus Vakarian, ma'am," he said with a nod of his head.

She gave him a delighted smile. "Lovely to meet you. Wish it was under better circumstances."

"Trust me; these are better circumstances than where I was before Amala found me."

"I'm sure. Now Agent Shepard, Admiral Anderson wishes me to run a quick diagnostic on you and give you some emergency supplies before you leave us."

The older woman waved Amala over to one of the beds. Amala hopped up to sit on the edge of it. Chakwas bustled about, taking various readings with several different tools before grabbing a couple of kits off a table.

"Okay, everything looks good. Now this one," she thrust at Amala, "is for you. The other one is for the turians. They both have medi-gel, pain relievers, and antibiotics. I can't guarantee how well the dextro ones will be, since they were made with the only other dextro species in mind, but they should help, I hope."

"Thank you," Garrus said, taking the bundle from the woman.

"Good luck to you both."

"Thanks, Doc. Come on, Garrus, let's get down to the ship."

Carrying the supplies that the doctor had given them, they made their way down to the cargo bay. There they found Saren and Nihlus already aboard the _Wildcat_. Saren was going over a rough topographical map of the planet with EDI. The rest of them watched Saren as he talked.

"These areas have numerous cave systems, or here is a dense forest. Either spot would be good for us to land at; they are both near some of our strongholds."

"Where did you get this?" Amala asked.

"It was on one of the data drives we took. It wasn't relevant at the time, so I filed it away as there were no specifics, just this map and some other basic information about Palaven. I am unable to choose a landing spot until we are dropped, since we have no idea exactly where we will be."

"Far side of the planet is what they are aiming for. Can you estimate what land will be there?" She looked down at her omni-tool to see how long it had been since they had been in the cockpit. "Looks like another hour to the relay and once out of the relay another forty-five minutes to reach the planet."

"One moment, calculating. Based on the known orbit and rotation of the planet, the caves will be our best choice."

"Good. Probably the easiest place to hide the ship as well. General, once we are down, do you know any radio frequency we can use to contact your people?"

"Several, but I would rather approach them on foot. Although no other species we have encountered can accurately imitate ours, they would not trust any initial contact from someone they knew was taken by our enemies."

Amala nodded. "How big of a problem will it be with me there?"

Saren exhaled slowly. "It is very likely they will view you with mistrust, but I do not believe it will be insurmountable. You will have to give up your weapons, at least initially, until we can convince them that you are an ally and not an enemy."

"Understandable. Can I spread my weapons among the three of you so they are near if we run into trouble?"

"That would be prudent."

"I would recommend that you all wear your helmets and rely on your suits until we reach the surface; some systems may need to be shut down to provide maximum power to others," EDI added.

"Noted."

The three turians headed to where their gear was stored, while Amala went to the main cabin and quickly divested herself of her uniform and donned her armor. From her weapons locker, she took out her personal weapons. Slapping them in place, she grabbed her helmet and went to meet the others.

She nearly ran into Garrus, his helmet in one hand and eating something with his other. Taking the pistol off her hip, she put it on his. He looked down and sighed.

"Really? I get your pistol and not your rifle?"

She grinned at him. "You are already carrying one; your pistol slot is empty, so that's what you get."

Nihlus got the sniper rifle and Saren her assault rifle. It was all she could do not to pace up and down the small hall; her being in armor with her weapons gone just seemed wrong on so many levels.

"Amala, the_ Normandy_ is hailing us. Should I open a channel?" EDI asked.

"Of course!"

"Uh, Shepard, we will be reaching the relay in thirty minutes," Joker said.

"Roger that, starting a countdown now. EDI, set the timer for seventy-five minutes."

A small display with the timer appeared on the console's screen.

They could hear Joker clear his throat before finally saying, '_Normandy_ out'.

"Amala, that pilot, Joker, he seemed uncomfortable. Is it the mission?" EDI asked.

Amala gave a soft laugh. "No, it's more I outed you. He let me know that you couldn't possibly be good enough to get us safely down to the planet. I, uh, may have suggested letting you loose on his ship."

"That wasn't very nice. Although, I would love to have a bigger ship and think of how much easier our missions would be if we had a stealth drive!"

"I'll be sure and let them know that if they need an A.I., you would love to help out."

They settled into their seats. Amala and Saren taking the pilot and co-pilot seats, while Nihlus and Garrus took the secondary seats behind them. The time creeped slowly as they watched the timer count down. Then it seemed to speed up and suddenly they were looking at single digits on the clock.

"Helmets on and strap yourself in tight. This is likely to be a bumpy ride," Amala stated.

The cargo bay door yawned open, revealing the world below them. The _Wildcat_ left the safety of the _Normandy_ and their ship accelerated quickly, heading for Palaven at a dangerously fast speed.

"Diverting power to the forward shields and the engine," EDI's voice rang out in their suits.

The blockade appeared to be centered around the relay in the system and this side of the planet was not actively patrolled. The ship's engines whined and they could hear the metal groan from the stress of their rapid entry into the planet's atmosphere. Although their heat signature would register on any nearby vessel's systems, their speed was their only hope for making it to the ground in one piece. Well, assuming the ship didn't break apart.

Amala bit her tongue even though part of her wanted to ask EDI for reassurance that the _Wildcat_ wasn't about to fly apart in a million pieces. The ship burst through some high clouds and the land below them began to take shape. Rather than slowing down, the little vessel seemed to be picking up speed. Finally, Amala couldn't take it anymore.

"EDI, shouldn't we start slowing down now?"

"Not quite yet; I've calculated out exactly how long we can maintain this speed without the ship breaking apart. Are you concerned, Amala?"

"Hell yes! I've never had a combat drop go at such a high speed before. But if you say you have it all figured out, I'll shut up now."

The craft continued to hurtle towards the ground until some magic point had been reached, then they were all flung against their restraints as just as suddenly the ship began to slow down before it began racing along the ground.

"Scanning the terrain. I have located a large enough cave for the ship to settle in. I have detected no other aircraft in the vicinity at this time."

The ship hugged the contours of the surface as EDI directed the craft to the spot she had selected. The mouth of a cave opened before them and the vessel came to rest in the back of it.

"EDI, can you show me where you brought us down?" Saren asked.

"Of course."

The map appeared on the console, their location indicated by a small flashing dot.

"Best estimate, we are at least a few hours away from the last location I knew of for one of our outposts."

Amala nodded before she unhooked her safety harness, and then stood up, stretching. The rest of them followed suit, but unlike her, they could remove their helmets. They quickly gathered what supplies they would need for the trek to find an outpost. The munitions and QEC would have to wait until they could bring enough people back to carry it all out.

"EDI, no communication unless it's an emergency. Take whatever action you need to keep yourself safe."

"Understood, and good luck."

"Thanks," Amala replied.

Only diffused light reached the back of the cavern where the ship rested. Saren took point as they began the trek out into the light. Once outside, Saren stopped and scanned the area around them. Nihlus and Garrus both had their faces turned up to the sun. Amala could hear the wind as it whistled past some nearby rocks, making her wish more than ever she could take her helmet off.

Garrus looked over at her and grinned. "Welcome to Palaven."

**~Thanks to Mordinette for all her help and thank you to the readers as well! I'm delighted so many of you are enjoying this!~**


	12. Chapter 12

Saren scanned the area around them once more. Still no movement, which for them was a good thing. Assuming the outpost hadn't been destroyed, it would take at least a good two hours to reach it on foot. He turned around and caught the sight of his companions basking in the heat of their sun. Although he was anxious to get moving, he gave them time to enjoy this moment. Nihlus lowered his face first and found Saren watching him; he flashed him a grin before pulling his rifle out. Garrus, however, had turned to Shepard, his mandibles flared in a grin as he welcomed her to Palaven. Saren snorted at that thought; this was hardly a vacation for them. The boy's hero worship for Shepard was apparently evident to everyone but the woman herself.

"This way," Saren said as he waved with his hand. "Vakarian, bring up the rear. Best if you stay in the middle of us, Shepard."

Amala fell in behind Saren and Nihlus. It felt weird not to be in charge; after all, she had been working on her own for what seemed like a lifetime now. Saren, however, knew the terrain and would be her best chance at not getting shot on sight. After all, the asari and batarians would have to be wearing full helmets while out in the middle of the day as well, and any turians who saw her would assume she was one of those two species.

The area where they had landed was partway up the side of a cliff, in the middle of some dry rocky canyons. Down below them, she could see the rocks gave way to a grassland and all of the vegetation had a slight silvery sheen to it. Saren continued up the side, leading them deeper into the maze of rocks.

The cooling units in Amala's suit whirred constantly, trying to maintain the temperature she had set it at. Outside that slight hum, she could hear the thunk of their boots as they traversed across the rocks. Every now and then, she could hear what had to be the sound of the local fauna, although it looked like the majority of the planet took refuge during the strongest hours of the sun.

More than an hour later, Saren began to look for a spot for them to rest in the shade. All of them were lacking the conditioning to spend a great deal of time under the sun on Palaven. Up ahead, he spotted a small alcove deep in the shadows of a rock and led the party to it. The shade was deep enough that Amala could risk taking her helmet off.

Her helmet came off, the hot native air still better than the recycled air of her suit. She was in the middle of taking a drink when a strange piercing cry echoed across the area. A call that Saren answered with a cry of his own. The sound came again and once more Saren replied, though it seemed a little more forceful the second time. Then the telltale sound of small rocks cascading from where someone had disturbed them rang out from all around them. Amala capped her water container in anticipation of who would show up.

They didn't have long to wait as four turians descended from above them, their well worn rifles cradled in their arms. Their armor was nothing more than regular clothes colored to blend in with the surrounding rocks. They looked young, even younger than Garrus. A fact that bothered Amala even as she realized these people were fighting for their existence. Nihlus and Garrus moved to flank Saren, their own weapons held casually in their hands.

"General Arterius? I, uh, we heard you were dead."

"No, I was captured," Saren said, a hint of anger in his voice. "Who is in charge of the Nanus outpost now?"

"No one, sir. It was shut down; we've implemented the roving command post strategy. My team was sent out to investigate what looked to be a spaceship crashing. Although, we never did see it explode."

"Because it didn't. We were on that ship. I need to find someone high in the Hierarchy."

"General Corinthus leads the post we are from; he should be able to give you more information. We will take you and your prisoner there."

Saren waved a hand at Shepard. "She is not our prisoner. She is more of an envoy of her people."

Amala watched as the new turians took a closer look at her. With her helmet off it should have been apparent that she wasn't an asari or a batarian, but that didn't necessarily mean they would be less hostile.

"General," she said softly, "should we go back and get the QEC at least before we get any further away from the ship?"

Saren turned to gaze at Amala even as the squad clutched their weapons a little bit tighter.

"How far," Saren turned to look closer at the squad leader's armor, "to Corinthus's location, Corporal?"

"Sir? You, uh, understand the alien?"

"Yes, the damnable implants the asari installed in us have at least one benefit. Now, I ask again, how far?" Saren growled out.

"Two hours, sir!"

"Put the translator program on continuous use on your omni-tools. My voice will be translated for them, so they can understand me as well then," Amala said, keeping her voice even and on the quiet side.

"Vakarian, do it," Saren snapped out.

Garrus quickly called up his tool and put the program on just as Amala had suggested.

"You have those working as well?" The young corporal asked, his voice rising a little in excitement.

"You can question us on our gear after we get to your camp. For now, we need to go back to our ship and retrieve something of vital importance. Something that must be protected at all costs. Do I make myself clear?" Saren asked, his sub-vocals thrumming in such a way that it had the whole squad standing at attention.

"Yes, sir!"

Saren let out an irritated huff. "Good, now follow us."

Amala put her helmet back on. A small smile spread across her face as she followed the turians back the way they came.

* * *

The Wildcat sat where they had left it just a few hours ago. Amala moved up to the front of the group and began keying in the sequence to unlock the vessel.

"What is the alien doing?" a suspicious voice asked from behind her.

"I'm unlocking _my_ ship."

The turian version of her words echoed back from Garrus's omni-tool, tinny and rather flat. The squad seemed a little surprised, but this was the first time she had spoken since Garrus had turned on his tool's program.

EDI's voice rang out as soon as Amala entered the vessel.

"Found the outpost already?"

"No, it's further away than we thought so we figured we should get the QEC at the least. Nothing to report on your end I hope?"

"Minimal chatter. It appears that most suspect us of crashing in the ocean nearby, which of course was my goal."

"Good. No telling when we will be back again."

"Understood."

Amala dug out the crates for the QEC, stacking them on top of each other. The two large containers would have to be carried for a long time, something she wasn't looking forward to. Next, she pulled out one of the weapon crates and dragged it to the hatch of the ship.

"General, I would guess decent weapons are hard to come by. I don't know if you want to bring a crate of these back with us or not."

Saren strode over and flipped the lid off the container. Inside, assault rifles like Garrus and Nihlus currently had were nestled in their protective coverings. Heat sinks had been stuffed into bags and used to fill up the crate.

"Corporal, you and your people grab a new rifle and leave your old one in the ship for now. Grab one of the bags of heat sinks as well," Saren ordered.

"Yes, sir! Thank you, sir!"

The four of them quickly switched weapons. Garrus and Nihlus showed them the basics of their use. Saren shut the crate back up and Amala pushed it back inside the ship.

"We'll have to come back for the rest of the supplies when we have enough people to carry everything."

"Sir? Why can't you just fly the ship to our location?"

"We can't risk leading our enemies to our post. No, the ship is safer here, for the moment."

"Right then, I just need someone to help me carry the crates," Amala said.

"You there," Saren said, pointing at one of the squad. "Go help her."

The turian snapped a salute at Saren and followed Amala back into the ship. His eyes skimmed over everything, curious about this strange ship and the alien that was traveling with the general. The alien stopped in front of two large crates stacked on top of each other. She grabbed the handle on the bottom one and he grabbed the handle on the opposite side. Together they lifted it and carried it out of the ship. After locking the ship back up, they were off once more.

* * *

Amala's arms were aching by the time the sun had begun to set. At least they were close to their destination according to their guide. Sure enough, the sounds of boots on rock echoed around them and then turians appeared surrounding them, all of them holding a weapon of some sort. An older turian, his dark brown plates showing cracks and damage, pushed through to stand before Saren. He seemed to study him for a moment.

"General Arterius, I should have known that our enemies couldn't hold you for long," he said with a soft laugh before clapping Saren on the shoulder.

"General Corinthus, glad to see you are still alive. After seeing the age of the squad we ran into I was afraid none of our senior leaders were left."

"They may be young, but they have been through several fights each. Now, you want to tell me how in the name of all the Spirits of Palaven you managed to get free?"

"We need some place safe and secure to store something before we talk."

Corinthus looked past Saren and noticed the alien in the middle.

"We don't usually keep our prisoners alive, but I'm sure we can figure out something."

Saren shook his head. "No, she is not a prisoner. Shepard, come up here with that thing."

Amala and the turian carried the QEC up to the two generals. Saren pointed at the crates.

"This. This is what we have to protect. It's a communication device to contact her people to find out their plans _to free us_."

Corinthus rocked back. "What? How? We have no satellites."

"It's a quantum entanglement communicator, QEC for short. It allows for instantaneous communication regardless of where the two devices are located and no one can intercept the data it transmits. The other half of this set is with an admiral of my people," Amala explained. Her words, however, were faint as Garrus was a few feet behind her.

"Vakarian, move up here so her words don't sound like they are coming from some rocks behind us," Saren ordered. "Now, you can see why this has to be protected at all costs. Let's get it secured and then we can talk properly."

The QEC had been placed under tight guard and now their little group was currently in Corinthus's personal quarters, a small alcove in the back of a larger cave. Amala had chosen to sit on the ground, the others making do with makeshift seats on crates. Corinthus leaned closer to Saren.

"So, care to tell me how you escaped along with two camp prisoners?"

"Before I answer that, do you have any information about my brother?"

Corinthus shook his head slowly. "I'm sorry. Nobody has heard from him in weeks. Communication is spotty as you can guess; pretty much we are reduced to fighting on our own with whatever we have on hand."

Saren nodded. "I expected as much. What about Primarch Fedorian? Is there any way we can get in contact with him?"

"He was killed not too long ago. With both you and your brother gone, Victus was tapped for the spot."

"Fine. Where can we find him?"

"Last I heard he was leading a group out in the Dreslyx forest."

"Damn."

Saren rubbed his forehead for a moment before he told their story to Corinthus. After he was finished, Corinthus turned to look at Amala.

"I have to say, I find it surprising that now your people are willing to help ours."

"The truth of what is going on here has been well hidden. It was only because I found your general and the others that I was able to do anything about it. There is an old saying on my world: 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'."

Corinthus smiled at that. "Apparently all cultures come to that conclusion. We have a similar saying. So what did the asari do to you?"

"Until recently we thought the asari were our allies, but since they have allied themselves with the batarians, well, I view that relationship as tenuous at best. The batarians have been raiding our colonies for years now; their government denies they are behind it. But that is one tale I never believed."

"Corinthus, I hate to ask this, but we will need at least two of your people to carry the QEC. Shepard is of better use with a gun than carrying supplies since it will take at least a few days to travel to the forest," Saren said.

"I did wonder why she came planetside with you."

"My ship, and I did start this. I am a soldier, not a politician. I won't be a liability," Amala interjected.

Corinthus gave a small nod. "I'll give you two of my men, Arterius. We'll keep an eye on your ship as well."

Amala let out a small laugh. "Thank you, although my ship has a few surprises for anyone who fucks with it, what with an A.I. installed on it."

"Thank you. The easiest route down to the forest is back the way we came. Send some extra soldiers with us and we can at least get some better weapons in your hands," Saren added.

"That would be appreciated. We can always use better guns. My 'quarters' aren't much, but you are welcome to use them tonight."

**~A big thank you to Mordinette for all her help and one to the readers! I'm delighted you are enjoying this!~**


	13. Chapter 13

Amala's eyes snapped open when the sounds of quiet movement near her registered to her brain. The others were beginning to stir. Saren and Nihlus had placed their bedrolls across the room, just so, almost, but not quite, touching. Garrus had set his roll closer to her, trying to give the other two a little more space. Corinthus had meant it when he said his quarters were theirs, as he had disappeared soon after they had begun to settle for the night.

Outside their little area, turians bustled about. Some checked weapons; others seemed to be organizing individuals into groups. By the time they were ready to start out, a large party had been selected to go with them. There was a contingency of guards and a retinue of older children and others not as skilled with weapons that were tasked to carry the supplies back. Amala sat and watched the children as they waited for the signal to go. It became evident that they were proud to have been selected for this mission and they stood patiently, displaying none of the energy and antics she would have expected.

Garrus leaned against a wall next to her while he waited for the order to move.

"They look so young," she said softly to him.

"They are anywhere from ten to twelve. The longer the war goes on, the younger they get when they first are sent out into the field. Military service starts for us, well, it used to, at fifteen. Now, I guess it's whenever you can shoot a gun with any skill whatsoever."

"That's why you and Nihlus were so good at the outset: you had some training."

"Yes, I just needed to learn the nuances of these new weapons."

"It makes me sad to see these kids not allowed to be, well, kids because of the actions of others."

Garrus nodded. "We will be changing that soon."

Most of the turians had steered clear of where she had settled until she spotted one individual weaving his way through the others until he stood in front of where she and Garrus waited. His mandibles flickered with some emotion that Amala couldn't name, something she hadn't seen before.

Garrus's mandibles flared in a grin and he moved forward to clap the newcomer on the shoulder. His plates were a similar grey as Garrus, but he had lovely green eyes instead of the blue of Garrus's.

"Decian! I can't believe it's you."

"Garrus! I had heard them say that a Vakarian came in with Arterius, but trying to get close enough to find out who it was has been nearly impossible. I wasn't sure who I would find. How did you escape? What about your family?" he asked with a sense of urgency even Amala could pick up.

"Sol was sold," Garrus told him, his voice soft. "But Amala promised to help me get her back." Garrus gestured with one hand over to where Amala sat against the side of a rock.

He emitted a low keen; a matching sound came from Garrus as the two males pressed their foreheads together. Their cry ended just as abruptly as it started and the one called Decian moved to stand in front of Amala.

"If I am alive when you go to find Solana, I beg you, take me with you. I'm a good shot. I'll do whatever it takes to get her back."

At her quizzical look, Garrus moved to stand beside the other turian.

"This is Decian Chellick; we were in the same unit together. Decian was seeing my sister. They hadn't formalized anything, but they were serious. He was still with the unit while I was on leave at my home when the attack came."

"Are you okay working with aliens? Because I have contacts in species you haven't even seen yet," Amala asked, pushing up to stand near them.

"Garrus believes in you, and that's good enough for me. I will follow your orders."

Amala's eyebrows shot up in surprise. More must have been said than what she could hear.

"Alright, you're in. You might want to see if you can get porter duty so you are with us when we win this."

Now it was Decian's turn to look surprised, his mandibles fluttering. Garrus chuckled at his friend's expression.

"We will win this," he vowed.

Decian's mandibles flared in a grin and he headed off to find Corinthus. Not long after he had left, the whole procession began to move. Amala stayed near the middle once more, but this time she had her weapons. Garrus fell in behind her still on translator duty, not that he minded. At first, the children walked a little faster or a little slower than she did. She tried to not let that bother her, even though she couldn't really blame them. Then she overheard the whispered dare and one of them, she thought it was a girl based on Garrus's explanations from the previous night, braced her shoulders and moved to keep pace beside her.

Garrus laughed a little. "I hope you won something good."

She cocked her head back to look at him before her mandibles flared wide. "Torler has to do my laundry duty for a week!"

"Well done," Amala said. "You are very brave."

The girl's steps stuttered for a moment before she caught herself.

"They say you look like an asari, but not blue," the girl said, her mandibles twitching.

"Something like that," Amala said with a little laugh. "See that turian beside General Arterius? The brown one? My skin is a little lighter than that color, but my species comes in various shades, some lighter and some darker. We also have hair, not tentacles, and that comes in lots more colors."

The girl gasped. "You must be very colorful."

Amala laughed. "Not me, I'm just an average brown skinned, black haired female."

"Don't listen to her. She's not that plain," Garrus whispered to the girl.

"Are you her friend?"

"Amala, am I your friend?" Garrus asked with a grin.

Shaking her head while she chuckled she replied, "Yes, I consider you a friend."

"My dad told me that there aren't any aliens who are our friends."

Amala winced at that comment. "I can understand why he would say that. But I hope to change his mind and yours about that."

"He's dead," she said sharply.

Amala sucked in her breath. "Mine too. Hell, my whole family was killed by aliens. Batarians, those four-eyed bastards currently causing problems on this world, were the ones who killed mine," Amala said gruffly.

That seemed to appease the girl and some of the others as they drifted closer to Amala and Garrus. One of the boys walked beside Garrus, his eyes drifting up to gaze at his marks every now and then when he thought Garrus wasn't looking.

"Yes, I came from one of the prison camps. My parents are still there, well, I hope at least. My sister, though, she was taken away," he said softly.

"How did you escape?"

"I didn't. I was rescued by Amala. She had already found Arterius and Kryik when they came across me."

At some signal from one of the adults, all of the children stopped talking and the group continued in relative silence. It was a relief though when they called a break and Amala could find a piece of shade and take off her helmet, at least for a moment and take a drink. Even the turians had found spots to take shelter from their sun.

The majority of the children had congregated together but their eyes were still on Amala, especially since her face was now revealed. The girl who had walked next to her was poked and prodded and finally she moved towards where Amala and Garrus sat.

"You're quite the novelty," Garrus said, leaning down so his mouth was near her ear.

"Not sure why," Amala grumbled, to which Garrus chuckled.

The little girl came to stand in font of Amala. Her mandibles twitched nervously before she spoke.

"My name is Loriva. My friends think that your skin is tougher than an asari's. Is it?"

Amala laughed softly. "Why would they think that?"

"Because your skin is the color of the earth and not the sky," she said, as if that was a clear reason.

"Those with plates the color of the earth are considered the best looking, partly because it is rare, and well, because of some of our old stories," Garrus told her.

"No, my skin is actually softer than an asari's. You can touch it and see for yourself."

Loriva's talon trembled slightly as she reached out and with the pad of that finger grazed Amala's cheek. Her mandibles flared in a grin.

"Your skin is so soft. How do you survive?"

"My people have always been adaptable, and well, our sun is far gentler than yours."

Loriva nodded at that reasoning and made her way back to the others. Amala looked over at Garrus.

"Well, if brown is good looking, what does that make you?"

"Average," he said with a laugh. "Look around and you will see that gray is the common color scheme for us. My blue eyes used to be my best feature, but blue, sadly, has gone out of favor for obvious reasons."

"I like your eyes. When I was young, I wished I had blue eyes. So if you're average, what does that make Saren? I've never seen anyone who looks remotely like him."

"He is, uh, more striking than anything. Between still being more silvery at his age and his rare long cheek crest, he is unusual. Now, it's Nihlus who is considered a very attractive individual; not only is he a lovely shade of brown, but he has the rarer green eyes as well."

"Good to know I'm better looking for having skin the color of the earth."

Garrus shook his head. "Not just any earth. Not the brown of sand, that soil tends to be poor for growing things. Your color is that of soil that is rich with life; that is what makes it beautiful to us."

Amala's mouth opened and closed for a moment. That had to have been the nicest damn thing anyone had ever said to her in a very long time. At least not while referencing her body count.

"Thank you," she said, ducking her head.

* * *

Nihlus uncapped his water container and handed it to Saren. Saren took it with an amused shake of his head.

"You don't have to play personal assistant to me, Nihlus. You can go join the ranks of the soldiers."

Nihlus gave him an amused little flick of his mandibles. "No, much safer to be here. I'm tired of fielding all the flirtations and invitations."

"I bet you're glad to be back among our people."

Nihlus snorted. "Not for that reason. I thought I made it perfectly clear where my interest lies."

"I'm sure you could do much better than an old general," Saren said gruffly.

"Not just any general; the only one to ever return from being taken off world by the asari and without a mark."

"True, but you and Garrus are the first ever to escape a prison camp. I'm sure that ratcheted up your attractiveness quite a bit."

"Yes, well, I wasn't expecting them to like my markings quite so much," he said, embarrassment tingeing his sub-tones.

"They do accent your plates, not that you need me to tell you that," Saren muttered, a hint of amusement creeping into his voice.

"And after we win this and you are hailed the savior of Palaven, who will be the most popular turian on Palaven? Why yes, I think it will be you. And I'll be judged as that hanger on that won't let the poor general be," Nihlus said with a laugh.

Saren let out a huff of air. "Spirits save me from being popular. We still have to win this war first."

"Garrus firmly believes Shepard and her people will pull it off."

"The boy is-," Saren began.

"He's not a boy. He's just younger than us; me only by a few years. He's seen the darker side of the galaxy."

"And still thinks he can fight it head on."

"That's not such a bad thing, is it?"

"Maybe not, but Shepard can deal with all his energy and ideals. I have enough to do as is."

Nihlus gazed down the column and spotted the human resting in a bit of shade and as he watched, one of the children approached her. His mandibles flared in a grin and he let out a small laugh.

"Looks like Vakarian isn't the only one she has won over."

Saren glanced back to look at what Nihlus was referring to.

"Good, because if we ever hope to hold our own in this galaxy we have to be able to move past this."

Nihlus turned to look at Saren, his brow plates raised. Saren gave him a bland stare.

"I'm amazed you aren't a proponent of isolation."

"You and I both have seen what's out there. Staying apart will only make us targets. No, we need to forge alliances until we are a force to be reckoned with on our own."

**~Thanks again to Mordinette for all her help! And thank you to the readers for your continued support. **

**And for those of you curious, Chellick's first name is from ME2. If you mod the game on the pc such that you talk to the council without going through c-sec, when you do go through c-sec you learn that Decian Chellick is the new executor.~**


	14. Chapter 14

The supplies from the_ Wildca_t had been distributed to Corinthus's people and as Amala watched, they had begun the trek back up to their camp. Each member of Saren's party had as much as they could carry as well. Amala had slung the Cain onto her back and Garrus had quickly picked up the spare ammo for it that the Alliance had kindly provided. Decian and another volunteer, one female turian named Eleva Vylls, had the QEC slung between them.

Amala was curious about this new addition, this being the first female adult turian she had the chance to meet. Her voice had been higher than the males' when she introduced herself and her head 'crest' was much smaller and closer to her skull. Her mandibles were also much smaller and less pronounced than the males'. But she was every bit as tall as the males and just as strong, a fact that Amala found rather unfair, compared to humans. Of their party, only Garrus seemed a bit uneasy around her. So she watched.

His initial greeting to her had been much like what the others had done, but it wasn't long before Garrus did everything in his power to avoid walking next to her. Finally, he had settled into walking next to Decian. Decian grinned at him one too many times, causing Garrus to growl a little at his friend, which only made Decian even more amused. Amala would have given anything to know what was going on. Whatever it was, it didn't seem to faze Vylls, but whenever she caught Garrus's eyes, her mandibles would flare in a small smile.

Saren had finally called a halt when the sun was high overhead. The tall grass was their only cover as they hunkered down. He drew a basic diagram in the dirt with one talon. He marked out where they needed to go along with the location of a nearby encampment of their enemy that they needed to avoid.

"General, let me go scout out their camp. At the very least, if they look like they are heading your way, I can divert attention away from you, buying you some time," Amala explained.

Saren nodded. It was a sound plan and the fact that she asked, well, he appreciated that.

"What about the QEC? I'm sure the directions are in her language," Nihlus said.

"The translation program on your tools also have a written language part; just scan the directions and it will translate them for you."

"General, let me go as well. Every sniper needs a spotter," Garrus said.

"Shepard?"

"Works for me."

"Alright, you two go scout and catch up to us when you can. We will try to make it to the edge of the woods before nightfall. It's not safe to stop out here on the plains."

"Understood. Come on Garrus, let's go see what they are up to."

"Right behind you."

Together they crept off, staying as low as they could in the tall grass. When she came to a stop, he gave her a questioning look.

"Your omni-tool - turn off the program," she said in a low voice.

"Crap. Right." His fingers were already busy shutting down the program.

It wasn't long before structures began to poke out above the tall grass. Amala stopped and Garrus crouched down beside her, waiting for her to move. She scanned the area, looking for any cover they might be able to use. A small outcropping of rocks, on the opposite side of where they currently were, seemed to be their best bet. She skirted the camp, making for the rocks and the little cover they might be able to provide. Once they were at the rocks, they lay down behind them.

A few guards stood listlessly in the heat of the mid-day sun, only straightening up when an officer came by. But behind them there was quite a bit of movement. Garrus tapped her on the arm.

"They are up to something. From what I've gathered while we were in the other camp, our enemies tend to avoid doing anything during the day. Instead, they prefer to hit us at night when they don't have to wear their helmets and the heat is less."

"Agreed. I'm going to go down there and see if I can get close enough to find out what. Wait up here and keep an eye on their guards."

"Be careful."

She stripped the Cain off her back and dropped her pack as well before she began making her way down to the camp. The final distance she had to activate her tactical cloak in order to make it to the side of one of the structures. Garrus scanned the camp; it was just a series of small buildings, and it was apparent that with the destruction of the turian communications they knew that the turians couldn't mount any concerted effort against them. No walls encased their outpost, just a series of elevated positions for guards that were obviously not worried about an attack. That they had reduced his people back to their nomadic ways in order to stay alive just further increased the anger boiling in his blood.

He didn't move, even as the minutes crept by. His single focus was on spotting the telltale shimmer of her tactical cloak or just her moving through the grass back to him. He finally spotted her heading back towards him, first as a shimmer and then from the slight wave of the grass.

She had barely made it back to his side when she began to prep the Cain.

"Are they going to move after the others?"

"No, they spotted Corinthus's people and are going to hit them. I heard them talking," she hissed low.

Garrus had never seen her so agitated before. She was always cool in combat situations. Whatever she had heard must have been bad.

"Tonight?"

"No, soon. And the fuckers were given orders to kill any and all except for a few that might look like they know something. They spotted them carrying the supplies, so they think they have a hidden cache and they are hoping that they might know something about the artifacts."

"Including the children," Garrus said softly.

"Yes. Well, the Cain says that won't be happening. Cover me, it takes about a minute to prime before it fires."

"Got you covered."

Garrus moved back into position watching through his scope for anyone who looked like they might see Amala where she knelt. She had more of her exposed as she had to line up the gun with the center of the camp. Garrus expected something more dramatic than the little pfft that came from the gun when she finally pulled the trigger. He was about to ask,_ 'Was that it?'_ when Amala tackled him and pulled him down onto the ground. The Cain was dropped in her haste to get them both into cover.

"Close your eyes and cover your ears," she ordered.

He ducked his head and covered his ear canals with both hands, and just in time. The ground rolled under them and a wave of air blasted over them. When the ground stopped shaking, he opened one eye and peeked over at where Amala was. She had her eyes open and gave him a grin.

"Shall we see what sort of smoking hole that left?"

He laughed and pushed up to peer over the rocks. There was literally a smoking hole in the center of where the camp had been. Debris lay scattered all over, nothing moved as far as they could see.

_"Now that is a gun!" _

"Damn straight," she laughed. "I'll let you give a glowing report to the Alliance about it."

"How much extra ammo did they give us for it?"

"Four, bringing our grand total of shots up to six, well, five now. So we have to make them count."

"Oh, that one definitely counted," he said with a grin. "Should we watch to make sure no one is alive?"

"Good idea, but let's go down and survey the scene ourselves."

It didn't take long to verify that no one had survived the blast. Soon after, they were on their way once more. They jogged along, trying to make up time in order to catch up with the others.

They had stopped for a moment, taking a break amongst the tall grass. Amala had braved the sun, taking off her helmet so she could get a drink of water. She offered her container to Garrus as soon as she had gulped down some, hating having to put the damned helmet back on. Now though, maybe she could get to the bottom of what was going on between Garrus and Vylls.

"You don't seem to like Vylls much," she stated, watching him closely.

"Uh, it's not that. It's more I'm not interested in what she is offering," Garrus stuttered, his mandibles fluttering ever so slightly.

Amala laughed. "I don't think I heard her say anything about _that_."

"You can't hear it, it's, uh, crap, more in our sub-vocals. I mean, I appreciated the offer, but she didn't seem to take the hint."

"Not your type then?"

Garrus took another drink of water. He hadn't expected Amala to ask him about this, well, like this, but maybe he should just say it.

"Corinthus picked her out of the volunteers thinking that I might like a little bit of stress relief, you know, since I've been away from my people for some time."

Amala laughed even harder. "Wait, you're telling me that General Corinthus lined up a woman so you could get some action! Hell, sign me up for the turian military! I might be able to get some as well!"

"I would be happy to help you out, if you'd like," Garrus said, watching Amala intently.

The laugh died in Amala's throat. The heat must have addled her hearing. That was the only plausible reason she could think of as to why she had heard Garrus propositioning her.

"You're serious?"

"Very."

"I, uh, wouldn't expect you to find a human attractive, well, after everything you've been through."

"Most humans, no," he stated with a shrug of his shoulders. "But you, yes."

"Please tell me it's not because you feel you owe me or anything like that."

"No, not at all! I admire you. You've gone out of your way to help us when others wouldn't. You're an amazing soldier. Ever since I woke up next to you, all I can think about is, well, if all your skin is that soft, and I want to find out. And I really didn't expect to ever have this conversation with you. Crap, I'll just stop talking now." His shoulders drooped a little.

"Honestly, I'm flattered. I'll, uh, think about it. And I had no idea that your military would be so um, open about it all."

"Mmm well, high stress situations we tend to deal with by either violence or um,_ other_ activities. Corinthus wanted to make sure I had an outlet what with Arterius and Kryik paired up and Decian is with my sister."

"That's actually very nice of him. But why didn't you take her up on her offer? It sounds like it is just casual."

"Yes, well, I wasn't sure how your people handle such things and I was more interested in you anyway. You can tell me no, I mean I am probably quite ugly by your standards. I won't be offended. A little disappointed, but not offended."

"I don't think you are ugly," she said, shaking her head. "Maybe it's just me, maybe I'm a bit warped, but I find your features fascinating. I'm a bit envious of your height and natural armaments, hell, there have been situations where I could have used them to get myself out of trouble. And there I go, talking shop again."

She flopped back into the grass, her helmet pointed skyward. "Since I became a Spectre, being with someone else is something 'normal' people get to do."

"Really? Your position didn't improve your standing with your own kind?"

"Yes, but who could I trust? Did they want me? Or did they want the power I can wield? Or were they working for someone else and their job was to eliminate me?"

"Ah, I guess I can understand that. I hope you don't think that about me."

Amala grasped one of his hands in hers. "Oh! I hope you didn't think I was talking about you. Crap, I guess that came out wrong. As you can see, my social skills are rather rusty."

Garrus laughed. "I can't really judge you; Decian always said I was better at calibrating my guns than chatting up a woman."

"I'm just glad that what happened to you didn't sour you on all aliens. That's one thing I had to learn; just like my own kind, there are good and bad in every species out there. I appreciate that you trust me, even after all that happened to you. You know, most other species in your situation would have given up. If anything, I think you guys are more determined now than ever to win."

Garrus chuckled a little at that. "Well, 'Victory at any cost' has frequently been a rallying cry of turians. We'll keep fighting until there is no one left."

"I'll uh, definitely think about it. It could be horribly awkward or not. But we should get going; we don't want to be in the area when the asari come to find out why their outpost isn't checking in. Hopefully Saren and the others aren't too far ahead of us."

She made it to her feet first while he capped up the water. She offered him a hand up and he took it with his mandibles flared wide. It wasn't a resounding yes, but it wasn't a no either. And if she was thinking about it, well, that was definitely a step in the right direction.

**~Thanks to Mordinette for all her help! And thank you to the readers for your continued support, I appreciate it!~**


	15. Chapter 15

The sun had edged towards the horizon when they finally reached the border of the forest. They had made it across the open plains before nightfall only by pushing hard. Just the thought of being under trees during the day for shade brought a sigh of relief to Amala. So far, though, they hadn't seen the rest of their party. But there was no telling how far around Saren had led the others in an effort to avoid that asari camp on the plains. All they could do was continue heading in the direction that Saren had indicated they needed to go in order to find the Primarch.

Life in the forest was more visible, especially now that the sun was not quite so fierce overhead. Their steps slowed however, when the sounds of the forest around them began to drop off.

"Think they are from the camp?" Amala murmured, as she caught glimpses of movement around them.

Garrus nodded. He put a hand on Amala's shoulder. She stopped and waited next to him. It wasn't long before several turians appeared. Garrus stepped in front of Amala as he moved to address them.

"Did General Arterius reach the camp?"

One of them stepped closer, her rifle dropped only slightly as she addressed them.

"Yes. You must be Vakarian, but he said it was another kind of alien with you," she said, gesturing towards Amala.

"She is. They call themselves humans, but like the others, she has to protect herself from the radiation of our sun. Your orders were to find us and bring us in, correct?"

"Yes."

"Well, let's get moving then!" Garrus said with an exasperated huff.

At a nod from their leader, the squad fell in around the pair. Garrus pulled up the translation program as they walked along, figuring they would need it sooner rather than later.

"Hey!" Amala stumbled forward a few steps.

Garrus swung around just as the turian behind Amala was about to butt her in the back again with his rifle. A snarl from deep within was the only warning the offender got before Garrus grabbed his rifle with one hand and with the other, he held the turian by the throat.

"Idiot! She is a dignitary for her people, who are going to risk their lives to free us, and you treat her like this. You will treat her with the respect due to her!"

Garrus glared at him until he dropped his eyes; once his point was made, he released him and turned back around. He strode forward, forcing the squad leader to begin moving again.

"Thanks," Amala said, keeping pace with him.

"It shouldn't have happened. I'm sorry."

"It's okay-"

"No, it's not," he cut in. "You've been patient enough, probably more than I would have been."

"The turian people have been pushed to the edge. I can forgive a little tension between us."

Amala looked around to find that the turians were watching her, their mouths slightly open. It was then she realized that Garrus had gotten the program working before he had been interrupted. She had automatically tuned out the sound of her own words coming from his tool.

The rest of the trip was uneventful, the others keeping a respectful distance from her and Garrus. The camp, they found, was well hidden. In fact, it almost appeared to be deserted. The guards they passed merely nodded at their arrival. The majority of it was underground, very little was on the surface and what was there could easily be moved if needed. The entrance to the cave had vegetation in front of it and they carefully made their way through into the heart of the post.

Except for the surroundings, it looked like any military post Amala had been in during her career. Weapons were being checked, maps were laid out and being discussed, while others napped wherever they could. They were led to a chamber where they found Saren and Nihlus along with several other turians Amala hadn't seen before.

"Ah, good, you're both here," Saren said. "I assume the mushroom cloud over the plains was your doing?"

Garrus chuckled a little at that. "Scratch one asari camp."

Amala shucked her helmet with a sigh of relief. "Yes, they were going to hit Corinthus's people. The Cain made sure that wasn't going to happen."

One of the turians beside Saren moved forward; an older turian, his plates dark grey. His amber eyes watched her closely. "Commander Shepard? I'm Primarch Victus. The General here has told me a rather fanciful tale. If it had been anyone else I might not have believed it, but I know he isn't given to flights of fancy."

"I can appreciate your skepticism, Primarch, but perhaps we should get the QEC up and running and you can talk with my leaders and have some of your fears allayed."

"The instructions were surprisingly easy once we got them translated," Nihlus stated from where he stood next to the machine.

"We really didn't want to start it up without you here, in case your superiors wished to talk with you," Saren explained.

"Ah, they would just expect I was out fighting somewhere," Amala said.

At a nod from the Primarch, Nihlus pushed the power button. The machine flickered to life. The holo display was empty for a few minutes and then the shape of Admiral Anderson appeared.

"Shepard? You there?"

Amala stepped onto the pad and the machine transmitted her image.

"I'm here, Anderson."

He grinned with relief. "About dammed time."

"It took us a little longer than expected to get where we needed to be. We found the Primarch."

Amala stepped off and gestured to Victus to step where she had been. He strode onto the disc and Anderson smiled and gave him a cordial nod.

"Primarch, I'm Admiral Anderson. I'm sure you have a lot of questions and I'll try and answer them to the best of my ability."

"I'm to understand that your people will be inserting yourselves into this war?"

"Correct, though not alone. The krogan and even the salarians will be coming to your aid. The krogan as shock troops, and the salarians as tech and intelligence personnel."

"And how soon can we expect this to happen?"

"Anderson, sooner rather than later. It's ugly down here," Amala added.

"We are working on it. The troop ships are picking up the krogan now. That friend of yours, Wrex, has rallied even more of his people than he expected. We are planning a three-part assault, Primarch. First, we will be sending several of our strongest fleets through the relay to break the blockade. Once that is done, our troop ships will come through and begin dropping troops planetside."

"And what will this 'help' cost us?" Victus asked, suspicion laced throughout his tone.

"We need allies against the asari and batarians in order to prevent them from controlling the galactic council. Bringing out what is happening on Palaven is the best way to stop the batarians from getting a stronger foothold in the council."

"Yes, General Arterius explained some of this. I needed to hear it coming from you. So what is the third part of your plan?"

"To be blunt, it's you, sir. I've been charged to bring this half of the QEC to an open Council session. There we will present it as an innovation to impress the others. When we demonstrate it, well, that is when you get to tell the galaxy exactly what has happened to your people. We've already seeded copies of your language throughout all the major space ports and on the Citadel. And we've made sure to invite numerous representatives from various press organizations to the Council session. What has happened won't be hidden any longer."

Victus nodded. "I like it. When will you start the attack?"

"Two days on your time. So at that time I need you near the machine so when I start mine up, you can respond."

"Understood. With the return of General Arterius, I can be here waiting with my advisors. I will also try and insure the safety of your representative while she is on my world."

Anderson snorted. "Shepard? Point her at your enemies and let her go. Primarch, she is one of our best soldiers. She can take care of herself."

"Still, I would not want one of my people to hurt her, mistaking her for one of our enemies."

"Do what you feel is best. Anderson out."

Victus stepped off the pad and the machine went quiet.

Garrus swallowed the knot in his throat and took a step towards the Primarch. If Amala was to get a guard, it would be him. "Primarch, sir? I will stay with her and protect her. She knows me and I think trusts me," he glanced over at Amala and she gave him a smile and a nod. That was enough to bolster his resolve. "And, well, with my marks, I am pretty easy to recognize even from a distance."

Victus turned to gaze at the younger turian. "Agreed, you will be her liaison with our people."

With a flick of a talon, he gestured to one of the turians waiting along the wall. "Tarquin, show them around and get them settled in storage area five for now. Commander." Victus gave them a dismissive nod.

A young turian stepped forward and gestured for them to follow him. He led them out of the room.

"I'm Tarquin Victus. Yes, he is my father," he said with a bit of a sigh. "Come, you must be hungry. Let me take you to what serves as, well, I would call it our dining area, but I think that is exaggerating a bit."

They descended deeper into the earth. Some of the areas looked carved out while others appeared natural. Where they ended up was larger than most of the other rooms, but what stood out was a large hot spring that the turians were using for cooking.

"I'm afraid everything is boiled here. We don't risk fires. But at least it's edible, even if it is boring," Tarquin explained. "I, uh, don't know what we can serve you, Commander."

Amala gave him a reassuring smile. "Actually, hot water works for me. I have my own rations and they just need to be rehydrated."

"Oh, good," Tarquin said, relieved that he didn't have to try and figure out something for her to eat.

Tarquin sat with them as they prepared to eat. Amala had taken a ladle of water, dumped it into a pouch, and stirred it up while Garrus had taken a slab of whatever meat was being served.

"You two really destroyed an asari camp all by yourselves?"

Amala and Garrus grinned at each other. "Yes," was their answer.

* * *

Victus turned to Saren. "I know you've been traveling all day, but it would do the troops good to see that someone has returned from being taken by the asari."

"Of course, Primarch. I will make the rounds with Nihlus; they should see that someone has managed to survive a prisoner camp as well. I know that most of us thought they were taken off to be killed."

Victus gave a nod. "Good. Now, do you truly think the humans can free us?"

"I don't think they would send their forces in if they didn't expect to win. And from what Shepard has told me, their fleet is one of the largest in the galaxy. And if they have more like her as soldiers, well, our enemies are in for a shock."

"And after? What would you recommend, well, assuming we win and survive? You and your companions are the only ones who have been out in the galaxy and returned."

"Primarch, we have to forge alliances. It will be years before the Hierarchy will be even partially restored to what it used to be. We can't be unprotected. When the asari and batarians beg for peace, we demand money and resources. As much as we can get from them." Saren's voice dropped into a snarl at that last statement.

"There are those who will want blood for what was done to us," Victus replied. He was curious as to this shift. Saren was considered the more ruthless of the two brothers, though they were both considered to be gifted soldiers.

"If we were in a position of power we might be able to get it. No, the only reason we will win is because of our allies. We make our enemies pay the only way we can for now. Then we need to rebuild and formalize alliances. I won't have us unable to defend ourselves if I can help it."

"With who?"

"The humans at the very least. And if you want a brutal evaluation of other species, talk to Shepard. She hasn't steered us wrong, so far."

"Thank you for your candid advice, General. I look forward to your report on the troops later," Victus stated with a nod.

"Of course, Primarch," Saren replied, inclining his head.

Now he would get a chance to see what was left of the forces at this post. They still had to survive another two days.

**~Thanks once more to Mordinette for all her help, thank you! And one to the readers who make writing this story a pleasure! Now for the bad news, the week of July 15th there will not be an update as I will be out of town for a few days and rather than rush a chapter I will wait until the following week to post a new one. So expect an update the week of July 22nd.~**


	16. Chapter 16

Tarquin escorted them about the camp, making sure to introduce them to anyone present. Most of the looks she received were guarded, but when their guide explained that the pair of them had taken out the asari camp on the plains, well, then a few smiles came their way.

After leaving the last room, Tarquin turned to a passage that led further down into the ground. The temperature began to drop slowly, which Amala thought was wonderful after the heat of the day.

"Tarquin, or how should I address you?" Amala asked.

"Tarquin is fine," he said with a nod. "You have a question?"

"I was wondering, some of the areas look natural and others look carved. What is this place?"

"Ah, well, this used to be a historic site. Our ancestors made use of caves that had hot springs in them. It was originally expanded for visitors and most of the rooms have the warmth from the springs piped into them to bring up their temperature. And having said that, I apologize for your quarters."

"Why?"

Tarquin gave a soft cough. "The good news is that you don't have to share it. The bad news is this was the last one that was carved and it lacks the piping of the others, so it will be considerably cooler than the rest of the complex. We did find a couple of blankets for you to use."

"I'm sure we will be fine. Thank you for the tour."

Tarquin gave them a nod and left them staring at the storage room. They set about rearranging some of the crates, opening up a space to put their bedrolls. Without another thought, Amala began to strip off her gear and weapons, followed by her outer armor. When she finished, she looked over to find Garrus was already huddled under his blanket on his bedroll, his gear placed carefully off to one side. The end of his fringe was the only thing poking out from the blanket; it was kind of cute in a weird sort of way. She climbed under her own blanket and prepared to fall asleep. The air was a little chilly and dampish from the earth, but she had slept in worse conditions. She had just started to drift asleep when a voice awoke her.

"Amala," Garrus said in a low whisper.

"Hmm?"

"Can you sleep?"

"Not while I have someone asking me stupid questions," she said with a sleepy chuckle.

"Crap, I'm sorry. It's just so _cold_. It reminds me of that room that they kept me in. They would lower the temperature until I shivered so hard I could barely stand. In case you haven't figured it out yet, we really don't like the cold."

"Aw, shit. Move your bedroll over next to mine. Hopefully our two blankets will be enough to keep you comfortable. Otherwise I'm sending you up to one of the other rooms to sleep."

There was a rustle from behind her and then he was pressed up alongside her back. It was warmer with two blankets and with another body alongside hers. His arm flailed about as he tried to find a safe spot to put it. Taking pity on him, she snagged it on one of its passes and pulled it down so his arm curved around her midsection.

"That's okay? I'm not, you know, touching anything I shouldn't?" His breath was hot against the back of her neck, which was far more unsettling than an arm draped over her, but there was no way in hell she was going to tell him that.

"You're fine. You warm enough now?"

"Mmm hmm," he sleepily replied as he snuggled in tighter to her body.

No wonder this room was empty and Tarquin was apologizing about it; he knew that Garrus would be miserable here. Oh well, it seemed only fair that he get to drape himself all over her, after all she had done it to him when they couldn't even talk to each other yet. Her lips curved into a smile as she drifted off to sleep.

A slight rocking from the hips behind her slowly woke Amala up. Something firm was rubbing insistently against her ass. _ 'Wait, that felt like...it feels like Garrus's Mister Happy has made an appearance. Oh, well, they must keep them tucked away for safety. And it seemed similar enough to a human...crap, am I really thinking about this? It's really been too long if I'm contemplating the 'assets' of a sleeping turian.' _

Apparently, Garrus was having a lovely dream based on the low noises that accompanied everything else he was doing and she found heat building low in her own body to every little thing he was doing. Fuck, she really needed to get laid. Trying to escape, she gently lifted his arm that was still draped over her and scooted out from under the blankets. He burrowed into the warm spot she had just left without a change in his breathing. But the sound of her donning her armor must have penetrated his sleep, because his eyes popped open.

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you," she told him.

He stretched for a moment and then it dawned on him what was going on down below on his body. "Crap, I'm sorry. I hope I didn't chase you out of bed."

"Uh, no, it's fine. Human males get that same sort of 'weapons check' in the morning as well."

"Huh? Wait, that's what humans call it? I like that much better than our term," Garrus laughed.

"Oh now, do tell. What do turians call it?" She grinned at him.

He yawned and waited for everything to go back to where it belonged before standing up.

"Hmm, well, the most common ones are 'waking up blue' or 'having a blue morning'."

"Why blue?"

"Hmm, errm, well, our blood is blue, so it tends to be bluish. Why? What color do humans have?"

"It varies, depends on the guy's skin tone."

Now Amala was really intrigued. Blue...really? And her mind kept drifting back to that offer of his from the other day.

Garrus gave her a cocky grin as he started to get his armor back on. "So, yeah, how does my 'weapon' rate?"

Amala spluttered as she struggled to form a coherent response. "Uh, seemed uh, normal."

That cocky bastard, now she was going to be thinking about_ that_ all day, and shit, that was probably his plan. She was saved from any further embarrassment by the arrival of Tarquin.

"Commander, Vakarian. Good, you both are up already. My father would like to see you. Please follow me," he said with a small bow of his head.

Amala and Garrus quickly finished their preparations and followed the other turian back towards what must have been their war room, complete with QEC now. The Primarch was going over reports with several other turians when they arrived.

He turned towards them upon their arrival. "Commander, Vakarian. It appears the asari have deigned to leave the safety of the shade to discover what happened to their outpost. One of my scouts has informed me that they appear to be following your trail. I need you to lead them away from here."

"Understood," Amala said with a nod. "But we will try and do better than that; we will try and eliminate them."

Victus shook his head. "They have a gunship for air support."

"I can handle it; I know how to deal with them."

"The Cain?" Garrus asked hopefully.

"No, sniper rifles will get the job done."

"Do whatever you can," Victus said. One talon gestured to a turian in combat gear. "Sidonis, take them to where you spotted the patrol. Tarquin, go as their runner in case the situation changes."

The two turians saluted the Primarch and turned towards Amala and Garrus. The one called Sidonis was a similar color to Garrus and he motioned for them to follow them.

"How many besides the gunship?" Amala asked.

"Six, they were still on the plains when I spotted them and I got back here as fast as I could."

"Any good spots to set up near them?"

Sidonis stopped for a moment. "Only one, really. Can you really take out a gunship with a rifle?"

"It's more of can you hit it where the ship is vulnerable," Amala answered. "The stabilizer fins are its weak spot. Aiming for that joint is a bitch of a shot, but if you hit it, then the ship will careen out of control."

"You've done this before?" Garrus asked.

"Yes."

"Right then. I'll take you to where you can set up," Sidonis said.

Amala placed her helmet on before leaving the safety of the camp. The sun was just beginning its climb into the sky. They jogged along as fast as they dared, speed warring with the need for stealth. The hillock that Sidonis led them to wasn't ideal, but it was better than nothing. She could see the gunship, darting around as it covered the ground squad as they moved towards the forest. The angle of their approach, however, made a joint shot impossible.

"Garrus, Sidonis, can you two distract them? I need the ship to change its angle by about twenty-five degrees away from me. Be careful though, this isn't a suicide mission. Once it's down, then we work on taking out the squad. If we are lucky, the ship will crash into a few of them at least."

"Luck hasn't exactly been with us," Sidonis remarked dryly.

"Well then, consider me your good luck charm. With a fucking big gun," Amala said with a grin.

"We'll get you the shot," Garrus said.

"Like I said, no heroics. Just get them to shift towards you. Start shooting after I down the ship. If things go sideways, warn the Primarch, Tarquin. I'd like us all to walk away from this."

Sidonis and Garrus crept away to set up in a new spot. Amala turned on her translation program on her omni-tool.

"Why didn't you have it running before?" Tarquin asked.

"I figured you guys would accept it better coming from one of your own."

"Yes, you are probably correct."

They didn't have long to wait before the patrol must have spotted Garrus and Sidonis. The gunship shifted direction as it tracked the two turians. Amala quickly found the weak spot in her scope, tracked it for a breath then two, and finally pulled the trigger. The rapport of the rifle cracked across the area. The airship began to spin wildly as the pilot tried to compensate for the loss of one of the fins. The ship plowed into the ground, turning into a crumpled pile of metal.

Amala now turned her scope towards the ground squad and began firing at them. The barriers the asari had erected around them deflected the first few shots harmlessly, but eventually the heavy hitting gun stripped it away. Now when she targeted one in her scopes, they dropped. Garrus and Sidonis, on the other side of the squad, opened fire on them as well. Not seeing any more movement, Amala and Tarquin left the hill to join the other two.

Garrus and Sidonis were already checking the bodies by the time Amala and Tarquin got there. Tarquin and Sidonis picked through the area, looking for any useable weapons they could find. Garrus toed a body and a sound of distress came from it.

"Got a live one here, Amala. What do you want to do with it?" Garrus called out.

Amala walked over to where Garrus was and rolled the body over. She pulled the helmet off to find an asari staring up at her. The asari's brow crinkled as she took in that it wasn't a turian that had moved her. Amala took her helmet off for a moment, allowing the asari to see her fully.

A gasp escaped her. "You're Shepard. I surrender-"

Amala gave a hard and brittle laugh before she put her helmet back on. "Good, you know who I am. Then you also know my reputation."

"By Council treaty-"

"Like I give a damn! Council law dictated that you not do what you did here. You've waged an illegal war, selling these people into slavery and killing them without thought. You are no better than the scum I regularly execute. Don't worry, I'll show you the same mercy I do all slavers," Amala growled out.

"Hold her down."

Garrus and Sidonis quickly pinned each of her arms. Amala drew her combat knife and sliced through the asari's suit on her arms, looking for the telltale bump of an omni-tool implant. Finding it, she drew her knife alongside it. The asari gave a guttural scream at this new pain. Amala pulled the implant out, wiping the blood off on the asari before pocketing the device. She drew her pistol and shot her cleanly between the eyes.

"Why didn't you kill her first?" Tarquin asked.

"Military and mercenary groups typically use a protocol on them so that if they die their tools reset back to factory settings and any data on them is lost. She had to be alive in order to extract the tool without losing its data."

Sidonis straightened up and he gave Amala a smile. "Well, it was a pleasure working with you, Commander. By the way, I'm Sergeant Lantar Sidonis. Feel free to request me if you need another man for a mission."

"Thank you. You can call me Shepard. Let's hope there is something good on this thing. Now shall we head back and tell the Primarch the good news?"

Lantar and Tarquin took the lead, Garrus and Amala following behind them.

"Okay, next gunship I want a crack at it," Garrus said.

"The Viper doesn't have the strength or the range for it."

"That just means I get a shot at using your rifle." Garrus's mandibles flared wide in a grin.

"Ha! I let you use my Widow and I'll have a bitch of a time prying it back out of your hands."

"I'll let you use my_ gun_," he purred at her, still grinning.

Amala's mouth gaped and then she grinned back at him. "How do I know it has the range I'm used to?"

"Guess you have to test it out."

Tarquin glanced over at Lantar. "Spirits save us, is that how they flirt?"

Lantar chuckled. "Soldiers usually have the worst pick up lines, but I think these two take it to an art form."

** ~And I'm back! A great big thanks to Mordinette, you're an awesome beta! And a big thank you to the readers for all your support!~**


	17. Chapter 17

The Primarch looked up at their entrance. Seeing their relaxed posture and smiles, the tension he was holding was released.

"Report."

"Patrol eliminated, sir!" Sidonis answered with a salute.

"Even took an omni-tool," Amala said, one hand holding up the item.

"We've taken them before but we retrieved nothing of use from them."

"Hopefully there will be something useful on it."

Amala put the tool down on one of the crates that served as a table but was currently empty of anything of importance. She activated her own tool and began the tedious process of hacking it.

"Won't they have fail-safes in place to prevent what you are doing?" Victus asked.

"I took it when she was alive in case it had the 'wipe on death' safeguard active. Do you ever take them prisoner?"

"No, too dangerous with their biotics."

"Good, they probably didn't bother installing the 'wipe on removal' protocol on them then."

Her best hacking program broke through in a few minutes, confirming that they didn't fear the turians getting hold of them. She quickly converted the files into her language and downloaded it to her tool. A few more taps and it converted into turian. Leaving it up on the main menu, she straightened up.

"Primarch, I converted the files to your language. I've downloaded a copy to my own tool as well. I'm going to contact Anderson and give him this data.

The map of asari command outposts will especially be useful to the Alliance in the first wave of the attack."

She stepped onto the pad of the machine and it whirred to life. It only took a few moments before Anderson appeared.

"Anderson, I have data regarding the asari outpost locations. Transmitting it now." Her omni-tool lit up as it sent information to the QEC.

"Good work. That will make our job a little easier. Anything else to report?"

"Negative. Shepard out."

Anderson nodded and disappeared from the display. Amala stepped off as well and the machine went dormant once more.

"Primarch, if there is nothing else at the moment, I'd like to grab a bite to eat while I can."

"Nothing more now that the patrol has been dealt with. Dismissed, Commander."

* * *

Amala lingered over the last few bites of her rations as she listened to Garrus describing the things he had seen and done while traveling with her. The mess wasn't completely empty when they had arrived, and it didn't take long before the turians on break had gathered around the pair as they ate.

"I'm telling you, we ran through a station with only a gun in our hands, we were_ naked_!" Garrus said, his hands waving about for emphasis.

"Why?" a young turian asked.

"Because the asari have told the rest of the galaxy that we are just smart animals, good for a pet only. You don't dress a pet up, do you?"

"To be fair, we were on the way to get you armor," Amala added in with a laugh.

"Well, yes, but we still had to get there. Fortunately, we didn't get into a firefight until after we got our armor."

The sound of pounding feet brought all of their attention over to the door until finally Tarquin came skidding to a halt just inside the mess. His eyes locked onto Amala and Garrus.

"Commander, Vakarian! The Primarch needs you now."

"Shit, that can't be good," Amala muttered.

The asari must not be massing for a larger assault, or else she would have expected more activity from the turians. The war room was much as they had left it a few hours earlier except, Saren and Nihlus were now present.

"Sir?" Amala said.

"A situation has come up," Victus began.

A young turian, his fringe not fully grown in yet, looked up at the Primarch with wild eyes.

"Primarch, sir?"

Victus laid a hand on the boy's shoulder. "It's okay. She is an ally. This is Commander Shepard, a human. Commander, with the removal of that patrol and the new information that has just come in, I've decided to dissolve this camp."

"Sir, what happened? Are the asari coming in force?" Amala asked.

Victus shook his head. "Not at the moment. We both know it won't be long before they send a large ground force to search out who is destroying their people, and we don't have the strength to stand up to them in a straight up fight. No, Ryless here is from General Arterius - Desolas Arterius. Fedorian sent Desolas to bolster those protecting the prothean artifacts shortly before he died. Now Desolas is requesting more troops. So we will be breaking into smaller groups and rendezvousing at his location. There we can protect both the artifacts and the QEC at the same time, hopefully long enough for your people to initiate their assault."

Victus paused for a moment, letting that information sink in.

"General Arterius, Advisor Sparatus, and I will lead the three groups. General, take squads Ald, Borr and Cyd. Sparatus- Dron, Isso, and Ker. I'll take Nyst, Tov and Vert. We need to try to take everything we can. General, I want your people ready to go in an hour. Sparatus, you'll leave in two hours and I plan on being out of here in three."

He pointed to a location on the map. "This is where we have to go. Arterius, take the most direct route you can. Sparatus, go north before heading towards them. I'll skirt to the south."

"A good plan, Primarch, except for one thing - you need to go first. Take the QEC, Shepard, your men, and get to my brother as quickly as you can. I'll go last and make sure no one has followed any of you," Saren said, looking directly at the Primarch.

"You're going to argue about this?"

"Yes, I am. You and the QEC are to be protected at all costs. You are our leader and it is up to you to tell the galaxy what has been going on here."

"General Arterius is right, sir. You have to go first," Sparatus said.

"Alright," he sighed. "I don't like it, but if my top advisors agree that I should go first, then that is what I will do. Shepard, be ready to go within an hour."

"Of course, sir. I'll get the QEC ready for travel."

"I'll get our things," Garrus said.

After that, the whole underground cavern came alive with preparations. It soon became apparent that the turians had long planned for the eventuality of having to disperse from this location. There was no confusion, just quickly moving turians preparing to leave this place. Something they had to do before, if Amala had to guess.

Finally, they were ready to go, Victus leading them deeper into the woods. Amala and Garrus took up spots around the QEC once more, while Chellick and Vylls were tasked with carrying the crates again. They moved quickly along some path that barely qualified as even that, but the turians had no problems staying on it. They stopped for occasional breaks, but they showed no signs of looking for some place to rest for the night. Victus pushed them hard, until eventually the ground began to slope upward and soon even the turians began to huff and puff as they moved up the hillside. The trees had changed as well, a different sort than what was found off the hillside. These had thinner leaves and were also shorter than the others.

Victus finally called another break as the twin moons shone overhead. The larger one was just coming up, and the smaller one was beginning to sink below the horizon. Amala had her helmet off and had stowed it in her pack. Garrus caught her gazing up at the sky.

"You miss being out in space?"

"No, not really. I was actually admiring your two moons. Mindoir only had one small one."

"Ah, the big one there is Menae and the small one is Nanus. Is it hard, not having a home anymore?"

She glanced over at him and gave him a small smile. "Actually, I consider the _Wildcat_ my home now. I spend more time on it than anywhere else and it's one of the few places I feel safe."

He nodded. "Yeah, I wonder if my parents' house is still standing and if I'll ever feel safe in there again. You know, we had just begun our space program when the asari found us. I, along with millions of my fellow young soldiers, had applied for the privilege of serving on a space ship."

"And now you should go to the head of the list, you know, for actually having been on one. Can I ask you a question?"

He gave a soft laugh. "Hmm, yes, I do have previous experience; I should be at the top of that list. Of course, you can ask me anything."

"Since your artifacts were on your planet, I would've expected your people to be further along with your space program."

He smiled. "Ah, we are very cautious. It seemed a little too 'helpful' that some advanced alien race just left us these 'gifts'. Our scientists studied everything, two or three times, before even testing a theory from the artifacts. It just seemed prudent at the time."

She nodded her head. "Yeah, I get that."

A signal was given and everyone rose to their feet to continue their march. Amala was a little surprised when the Primarch drifted back to where she walked.

"Commander," he said with a nod.

"Primarch."

"Are you able to keep going?"

"Yes, sir. I've got more in me still."

"Good. I have to ask, are all your soldiers as capable as you?"

"Uh, I'm better than the average soldier. I'm one of the few N7's - that's our special forces. Although I have to say your soldiers are some of the best I've had the honor of working with."

"Thank you, we aren't as strong as we used to be, but I'm proud of every single one of them."

Those that were closest that heard their Primarch's words braced their shoulders and strode forth with a new bounce in their step. They pushed through the night and when the sun began its slow climb into the sky, Amala once more donned her helmet.

It was mid-day when a turian appeared on the trail before the group. Taking in the sight of all the soldiers coming up the side of the mountain, a small smile escaped her.

"General Victus? General Arterius didn't think we would get much more than a squad or two."

"It's Primarch Victus now. Two more groups are incoming. I need to see General Arterius. Is the camp much farther?"

"No, sir. Maybe another hour. Follow me."

She led them off the small trail and down an even narrower path that edged along the side of the mountain. And then it was into another subterranean cavern. The scout had failed to notice Amala further back in the group, but the first set of guards that they passed brought her to a standstill with their pistols leveled at her. Garrus moved in front of her, forcing them to lower their weapons.

"She's not a prisoner and is not an asari or batarian. Ask the Primarch," he said, the command and conviction in his voice raising doubts in their own minds.

Word reached Victus quickly as the procession ground to a halt, and he pushed his way back to where the standoff was.

"At ease, soldiers! This is Commander Shepard of the human Alliance. Know this, she is under the Hierarchy's protection unless I say otherwise, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir!" the two guards said with a sharp salute.

"Vakarian, Shepard, get the QEC and follow me."

They took the device from Chellick and Vylls and followed the Primarch. The scout resumed her march, leading the three of them into a smaller side chamber. An older turian, dark grey but with the same long cheek horns as Saren, stood up from where he had been sitting at a makeshift desk.

"General! Excellent, but what is all this?" Desolas asked, his arms sweeping out to indicate the people following him.

"Fedorian is dead. I was selected to be Primarch. With his death, we lost all information about the location of the artifacts and that he had even sent you here." One hand pointed towards Amala. "This is Commander Shepard of the human Alliance and Garrus Vakarian, one of her rescues. I dissolved my camp and two more groups should be arriving over the course of the day. And you'll be glad to hear your younger brother is leading one of them."

"What! Saren is alive? But I thought-"

"He was captured. Shepard rescued him as well. Shepard, get that QEC up and running."

"Yes, sir!"

Amala and Garrus worked on getting the machine working, while Victus brought the other brother up to speed. Soon enough the device hummed as it powered up. As soon as the light glowed green, Victus stepped on the pad. A few minutes later, Anderson's visage appeared to those in the room.

"Primarch, is there a problem?"

"We had to abandon our other camp. This new camp-," Victus started. He paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts. "I'm going to trust you with some sensitive information; we've retreated to where our artifacts are located. The asari have been picking off the soldiers assigned to guard it when they go out to forage. If we lose this, then everything that has been sacrificed so far was for naught."

"Understood. Shepard with you still?"

"Yes. Transmitting the coordinates to you now."

"We will make sure troops and ships are sent to your location to protect you and your relics. Hackett will be leading our fleets through the relay soon, hold on."

"Understood."

Victus stepped off the pad and the machine went dormant. He turned to find Desolas watching him closely.

"Are you sure that was wise?"

"No, but I don't see any other way to ensure our survival. With the influx of troops into this area, the asari are bound to figure out where we are holed up eventually. We make our stand here."

**~Thank you to Mordinette for all her help with this project! And another to the readers for all your support, thank you!~**


	18. Chapter 18

Victus and his team had already prepared the area around their camp for the eventuality of having to abandon it. So now, as Saren led the last of the outpost's soldiers towards their new destination, they activated the traps, tripwires and anything else that had been set up that might slow down their enemies. The last of the supplies that could be taken was spread amongst them for the trek to rejoin the others. Saren pushed them hard, taking them on the most roundabout way he could yet still trying to rejoin the others as quickly as possible. He brought them to a halt shortly after the sun had set.

"We'll stop here for a little bit. Private Atlen, take first watch. Private Veryos, take second. Get something to eat before we move again," Saren ordered.

He remained standing, keeping an eye out for any movement from where they had come from. The sound of footsteps brought his attention back towards his people. Nihlus strode up to him and stood beside him. He offered Saren some of the dried meat he had taken from his pack. Saren took it and slowly chewed it, trying to soften it up a bit before swallowing.

"What's your brother like? I only know what I've seen on the news."

Saren looked over at Nihlus; the younger turian's eyes were trained on the forest they had just traveled through.

"Worried about meeting him?"

"A bit. My family is all gone, so there is no one for you to meet from my side."

Saren clapped Nihlus on the shoulder. "He'll like you just fine. And if he doesn't, well, I really don't give a damn what he thinks then."

Nihlus glanced over at him. "I know he is all the family you have left and you've been worried about him. I would hate to cause a rift between you." His voice was soft, but Saren could hear all the worry and doubt in his lover's sub-tones.

Saren glanced around and found that the rest of his people were occupied, so he took the moment that they had for themselves. He gently cupped Nihlus's face and turned his head so that he could look into his eyes. He was not the most demonstrative of people, but he had learned that some things couldn't be left to chance.

"We are together. Whatever happens, we face it together. Including my brother. You kept me going-," he said.

"It was nothing," Nihlus interjected.

Saren snorted. "No, it wasn't. Your wit and humor kept me sane during those first few weeks and it sustained me during the darkest moments of my imprisonment."

Nihlus gave a soft laugh. "First time my smart mouth truly came in handy."

"Might have been the first, but I'm sure it won't be the last," Saren said with a smile.

Saren pressed his forehead against Nihlus's, catching Nihlus with his eyes. "Now stop worrying about Des. If he gets mouthy, I'll just remind him that his younger brother can still kick his ass." His sub-vocals were laced with his feelings for Nihlus.

Nihlus merely nodded his head, unable to give voice to everything he was feeling; instead, he let his sub-tones say what he could not.

"Besides, my brother probably has enough to worry about, what with Shepard and the Primarch there, to give a damn about my personal life."

* * *

Amala and Garrus had found spots among all the other turians as they spread out along the walls in the corridors and were finally able to close their eyes and get some rest. The arrival of the second group was noted by all before heads dropped back down and sleep resumed as the new bodies looked for their own spot to rest. Later, the sound of running feet, stumbling feet brought all of them out of slumber. A lone turian, one of the forward scouts, had fallen to his knees, his chest heaving as his body tried desperately to get enough oxygen.

"Asari," he gasped out.

"Where?" one turian barked out.

"Coming up...path," he managed to wheeze out.

Everyone swarmed to their feet, grabbing weapons before charging out of the cavern. Amala stopped short, her gaze sweeping the area for somewhere that would make a good sniper perch. Garrus must have had the same idea, as he paused to search the surroundings as well.

"There," he said as he pointed to a rocky ledge not far from where they stood.

Amala nodded and together they climbed up, the outcropping providing a view of the trail coming up the side of the mountain. Through their scopes, they could see the running firefight between Saren's units and the asari hounding them. As it stood now, it looked like the defenders would be too slow in coming to their fellow soldiers' aid.

"We need to buy them some time!"

"Yes," Amala said as she lined up the foremost asari in her scope.

A pull of the trigger and the asari rocked backwards, her barrier held though, but she did look around trying to spot who had tried to shoot her. Amala smiled as she saw the asari scramble to reach cover even as Garrus's rifle went off. She was too slow and Garrus's bullet finished the job. Those that had been following behind the now dead leader ducked behind anything they could find while searching for where the snipers were. Saren and his people took advantage and charged further up the mountain. When the asari tried to follow them, Amala and Garrus opened fire on any body parts that came into the open, forcing them back into cover. And when the troops from the base joined with Saren, they were able to force the asari back down the hill. It was a reprieve that everyone knew wouldn't last.

* * *

The sun sat low on the horizon when the asari returned. This time, though, the sound of trees cracking and falling was their first indication. The sentry on duty sent a runner with the news. He entered the command center and found the Primarch meeting with the two generals.

"Primarch! Something big is coming up the mountain, we've heard the sounds of trees breaking and falling."

"Sounds like their armored vehicles," Saren said.

"They've never tried to bring them up the mountain before," Desolas said.

"The trees make it challenging for the gunships, perhaps they mean to clear the area with them so they can then call in the ships?"

Desolas nodded, one talon scratched idly at his cheek. "Suggestions?"

"Let's see if Shepard has anything of use," Saren said.

He strode out into the hall and bellowed, "Shepard!"

A head popped up and the woman jumped to her feet and hurried towards him, Vakarian on her heels. He waved them inside.

"Sir?"

"We have armored vehicles coming up the hillside. We lack any weapons strong enough to deal with them. Have you any ideas?"

Shepard ruffled her hair. "Crap. Makos. I'll go take a look and see what I can come up with."

"Thank you," Victus said with a nod.

Amala returned the nod and headed into the hallway to grab the Cain. It was serious overkill for one vehicle, but that one vehicle would destroy the ground troops before they could stop it.

"What have you planned?" Garrus asked.

"I'm hoping it's going slow enough that we can use the Cain on it. There is no weakness I can exploit to bring it to a halt quickly. You have to shoot out all six tires to slow it down and reduce its maneuverability, but its guns are still functional."

"Crap."

"Exactly."

She grabbed the Cain where it rested and they headed outside. The crashing and crunching of trees echoed along the mountainside. Using the scope of her rifle, she sighted down the sloping path. What she saw had her swearing again.

"What is it?" Garrus asked.

Several other turians moved closer as they waited for Shepard to disclose her plan.

"It's not one, it's three. And dammit, they are moving too fast for me to target them with the Cain. They are just rolling over the trees in their path."

"So if they, say, stopped to target something, you would be able to use your gun on them?"

The voice sounded familiar. Amala pulled away from the scope to find Sidonis and several other turians gathered around them.

"Assuming they at least slowed down, yes, then I could get a shot off and hope to have it in the right area. But on foot, that's just suicide. They have heavier caliber weapons than a gunship and the base they are shooting from is more stable, making them more accurate as well."

Sidonis nodded. "I'll slow them down, somehow."

He checked his rifle and then sprinted down the hill, three more turians following his lead.

"Crazy ass turians!" Amala growled. She took the Widow off her back and handed it to Garrus. "Try and shoot out their tires. Hopefully I can get a shot off with the Cain."

Garrus set up near her and began firing at the vehicles. Amala prepped the Cain and waited. In the distance, she heard the rifles of the turians as they desperately engaged the ground vehicles. The makos slowed as they swung their guns around to try to hit the small team of turians shooting at them.

Sidonis kept them moving, never staying still. Amala prayed that they would be outside the blast radius. Seizing the opportunity that the turians had given her, she stood up and pulled the trigger. She waited and hoped that the turians' efforts weren't in vain as the gun whined as it warmed up. The asari realized too late that the turians were merely a diversion. The Cain fired.

Amala yelled, "Get down!"

Garrus dropped down beside her. The explosion rocked the ground. Turians poured out of the entrance of the cave, unsure of what had just happened. Several were knocked down by the blast-wave, the rest flinging themselves down to avoid the same fate. Amala climbed to her feet. Leaving the Cain where she had dropped it, she headed down the hillside to search for survivors. Garrus and the rest of the turians followed behind her.

"A squad was out in the field, trying to slow down the vehicles. We need to find them," Garrus said. He pointed out the general area where he last saw them.

Debris from at least one of the vehicles lay scattered around the area; chunks of it intermixed with rocks and hunks of tree. One vehicle lay on its back; there was no sign of the third vehicle, so two must have taken the brunt of the explosion. Amala headed to the remaining vehicle, while the turians spread out searching for their comrades. She walked around it carefully, listening for any signs of life within it. On the far side of it, she found the metal hull had been peeled away. Inside there were only dead bodies. Her best guess from the body parts was that the crew had been one asari and two batarians.

"Over here! I found them!"

Amala headed for where a turian was struggling to move a slab of metal off one of the diversion team. Other turians converged on the spot as well. Together they worked to free the soldiers trapped under tree trunks and hunks of metal. The first turian that was pulled free was dead; they carefully laid the body aside while they returned to the search. The next one was as well, diminishing the hope that any had survived the explosion. A shout went up when the third member of the team was uncovered. The body let out a low grunt of pain when the tree covering it was pushed off. Amala wasn't positive, but the turian appeared to be Sidonis. His eyes popped open. Seeing Amala, he gave her a weak smile.

"I'm hoping that worked, because I don't think I can go another round," Sidonis said, his voice weak.

"Your team did it. All the makos are out of commission."

"Oh, good. I think I'll pass out now," he said before his eyes closed.

Several of the searchers carried him up the hill. An urgent wave of a hand signaled that the last member had been found. A natural dip in the ground had saved her from being crushed to death by the debris over her. By this time, most of the soldiers from inside the camp had joined those outside and she was finally freed from her prison. She was unconscious but alive. As carefully as they could, they carried her back up to the camp.

Amala picked up the Cain on the way back inside to report in. Garrus strode silently beside her. The Primarch and his generals looked up at their entrance.

"I hope that the explosion that rocked us means that you took care of the problem coming up the hill," Victus asked.

"Yes, the vehicles are taken care of. Sergeant Sidonis led a small team and gave me the time I needed to use my weapon. He and another survived, but two others did not."

"Their names will be remembered with honor and placed in the annals of their units. Thank you, Commander."

They returned to their little spot in the corridor. Amala leaned back against the wall.

"You okay, Amala?"

"Yeah, just sorry they didn't all make it."

"I know, but they did what was expected of them. Turians are taught from an early age that society comes first. And what they did bought the rest of us some time before the next wave hits."

"I get that. They were heroes. Crazy ass, but brave."

Garrus nodded. "That they were."

**~Thanks once more to Mordinette for all her help, thank you! And one to the readers who make writing this story a pleasure! Now for the bad news, the week of August 12th there will not be an update as I will be on vacation that week. I'm hoping to restart the updates the week of August 19th, but no guarantees!~**


	19. Chapter 19

An unnatural quiet descended on the mountainside while the asari regrouped somewhere down the hillside. Saren took this opportunity in order to properly greet his brother and introduce him to Nihlus. A nod of his head to Nihlus and the younger turian fell in behind him as he stalked through the complex, looking for his brother. A small alcove had been set up to treat those injured and that is where he found him. Desolas looked up from where he sat in the makeshift infirmary at their entrance.

"Brother," Saren said and motioned for him to follow.

Desolas patted Sidonis's shoulder before getting to his feet. He followed the other two out into the hall. Saren kept walking until they had as much privacy as could be found in the complex.

Desolas grabbed Saren by the shoulders, even giving him a smile. "It's good to see you alive. We didn't get a chance to talk properly earlier."

"I know. This is why I wanted to do this now, in case we don't get another chance."

"It was weeks later when I finally got the news that you were gone. We all believed you to be dead."

Saren sighed and shook his head. "I nearly was. This is Nihlus Kryik. He was a captive with me."

Desolas gave the younger turian a nod and a smile. "Another one of Shepard's rescues. I hope the other humans are as honorable as she has proven herself to be."

"Des, Nihlus is more than just a fellow rescue," Saren said, letting go of the iron control over his sub-tones. He released everything, his hopes, his dreams, and his feelings for Nihlus.

Desolas pulled back and really looked at both of them. They stood shoulder to shoulder, watching him, waiting for some reaction from him.

"I'm surprised. I thought the military was your whole life."

"It is still important to me, but now I want something for myself besides that."

"And that would be Nihlus?

"Yes, and should I not make it out of this war and if anything is still left of what I owned before - I want it to go to him."

"I don't give a damn about your things," Nihlus growled out.

Saren placed a hand on Nihlus's shoulder. "I know, but I need to know that you will have whatever I might still possess."

"Understood," Desolas said.

He nodded to his brother and his partner and turned on his heel and left. Nihlus sighed as he watched him walk away.

"That could have gone better."

"He'll come around. I think he doubts what we have is real. After all, who would believe an old bachelor like me could find his match while being held as a slave?"

Desolas stalked off to where he had set up his personal space, all the while mulling over this development. He could hardly believe his much younger brother would attempt a relationship. After all, the Arterius family was better known for their service in the military than being able to maintain a personal relationship. Look at their parents, the huge age gap between the two brothers was because their parents rarely saw each other, could rarely stand to be in the same area with each other. What the two of them knew about maintaining personal relationships, well it was a damn short read. He'd keep an eye on this Nihlus, and Spirits save him if he hurt his brother.

Amala and Garrus sat on a ledge overlooking the path that wound up the side of the mountain just watching the sun descend below the trees. Below them, they could see the turians sending out small groups as patrols. Everyone was on edge now, as they waited for what their enemy would do next. The Generals had set up a rotation so that several squads were topside at a time while the rest tried to eat and get some sleep while they could.

As soon as the sun fell below the horizon, Amala stripped her helmet off. The light breeze ruffled her hair. She gazed skywards and looked for any sign of space combat, but so far she had spotted nothing. Sighing, she dropped her eyes down to look along the mountain once more.

"Bored?"

"No, just on edge. We know the asari are coming, but waiting for them to show up is hell."

Garrus nodded. "See, you should have taken me up on my offer while we had the chance. Then we both could have been more relaxed while we were sitting here."

Amala laughed. "Guess I should have. And here I was just thinking I should tell you that blue is my favorite color."

His mandibles fluttered a moment before settling into a wide smile. "Oh. OH. Hmm, really?"

"Yeah, and when we get back onto the _Wildca_t, I was wondering if you would join me in my cabin for a hands on demonstration of your_ personal_ gun. You know, if you're still interested." That last sentence was said such that it was softer, more hesitant than the rest of her words.

Garrus leaned closer to her before replying. "I'd be delighted to, uh, give you a personal introduction to uh,_ turian weaponry_."

Amala could feel the heat climbing into her cheeks at his words. How he managed to make such common words sound so naughty - no, _suggestive -_ was a mystery to her.

"But only if you want to," she said, her words rushed together.

Garrus laughed softly. "Trust me; this isn't a sacrifice for the good of society. This is something I want."

"Oh, uh, that's good to know. Although I still don't quite get that you would want me when there are a whole lot of other options running around here."

"That might be true, but they aren't you."

The distant whir of engines echoed across the night, slowly getting louder.

"Damn them! I don't need them interrupting me while I'm trying to flirt, dammit! I'm bad enough at this." Amala dropped her eyes down to look through her scope.

Garrus laughed as he got back into position. "Not to worry. Your technique works just fine on me."

The low light triggered the scope on her rifle to switch to night vision. She began to scan the area.

"Crap, I can't see anything," Garrus growled.

"There is a button on the right side of the scope. Hit it and it will turn on the night vision for it. It's an older model, but better than nothing."

In a few moments they spotted what that noise was. Skimming over the trees coming up the side of the mountain were two gunships running dark.

"Fuck. We are going to have to do this the hard way. We have to break through the canopies to hit the pilots."

"That doesn't sound so bad."

"Well, after we fire they will know where we are and they will be shooting at us. I'll shoot first. Target is the pilot of the ship on the right. Fire after me. With any luck, the Widow will break the canopy enough that your shot will take out the pilot. The second ship will be more of a problem."

The scrambling of boots on rocks had them both looking up. One of the squad leaders had joined them on their ledge.

"Two gunships heading our way; have everyone get into cover as best as they can," Garrus ordered.

The turian nodded and jumped back off the ledge, barking orders as he went. Amala peered down the scope, waiting for the ship to get a little closer.

"Ready?"

"Got the target."

The crack of her rifle was copied a moment later by Garrus's gun. The strategy worked as the ship lost control for a moment. That moment was enough for the ship to collide with a tree. The tree damaged one of its thrusters and caused it to spin wildly until it impacted with the mountain. All that remained of it was a smoking ruin; no one left the heap of metal it had become. Its sister ship managed to avoid being hit by it and the vessel turned its guns on where the muzzle fire had originated at. They only had a moment to revel in their victory as the second ship opened fire on their position, forcing them to hide among the rocks of their ledge. The ground squads hadn't been idle, though. They opened fire on the remaining ship, using any part of the terrain for cover. Whole trees were destroyed by the ship's guns when it turned on them, forcing the turians to flee to new positions.

"It's turned away from us; shoot it while we can!"

Garrus nodded and together they opened fire on any part of the ship they could target. The ship swung back their way once more and they flung themselves down to avoid being riddled with bullets.

One of the scouts ran into the command center, nearly running into Saren in his haste.

"Report!"

"Sir, two gunships. They managed to take one down, but the second one has us all pinned down. Orders?"

"By they, you mean Shepard and Vakarian?"

"Yes, sir."

"Do what you can to divert the ship so they have a chance at taking it down."

The scout saluted and returned topside. Nihlus stood near him.

"Go wake my brother and the Primarch. Tell them it has started."

Nihlus saluted him and left. He didn't have long to wait before they showed up.

"What's the situation, General?" Victus asked.

"Two gunships, Shepard and Vakarian took one out, but the second one is wreaking havoc on them all."

Even underground, they could hear the sounds of gunfire, muffled as it was by the earth.

"Your assessment?"

"They sent the ships to soften us up. More soldiers and anything else they can muster up will be coming as soon as they can make it happen. The longer we hold back the soldiers that are underground now, the stronger that force will be for the next push. I don't like it, but I see no other alternative."

Saren hung his head. He could only hope that Shepard could pull off another reprieve for them.

"Agreed. Leave the squads still underground in reserve for the next assault."

Victus stared at the map spread across the crate before glancing over at the QEC.

"Any word from the Alliance?" Victus nodded towards the machine that sat silent in the room.

"No."

All eyes shifted to the machine for a brief moment.

"Tell the troops top-side to keep the ship busy for Shepard and Vakarian to take it down. And to let us know if more enemies enter the field," Victus ordered.

"I'll stand with the troops above," Saren said. He raised a hand when his brother would say something. "They already see me as a symbol of our triumph over the asari; let me use it to our advantage."

"Do it. Desolas, you will lead the rest of our troops when the time comes."

Saren grabbed his weapons and Nihlus fell into step with him. He pulled his rifle out and checked it over. Saren gave him a look that Nihlus returned with a grin.

"You aren't leaving your personal assistant behind. Besides, I want to see firsthand how those two cause so much damage."

Saren shook his head. "She has a talent for destruction. I'm not sure whether to be afraid at what Vakarian is learning from her or be glad."

**~And I'm back! A great big thanks to Mordinette, for all her help. And a big thank you to the readers for all your support! Updates might be a little more sporadic as I deal with some things in my life that interfere with the time I get to write. Don't worry, this story will be finished it just might take me a little longer than I had orginally planned. ~**


	20. Chapter 20

Saren and Nihlus ducked as they came out of the cavern, the sounds of gunfire all around them. The single gunship still hovered in the sky, and its guns swung from one side to another as it tried to eliminate those that were shooting at it. Using whatever cover they could find, they made their way down to where the turian squads had taken shelter from the ship.

"Situation?" Saren asked the soldier he was crouched beside behind a large rock.

The turian saluted before replying. "Our guns are ineffective and they seem to know it, sir. They aren't targeting us as frequently, instead concentrating on the snipers."

Saren let out a frustrated growl. Nihlus looked over at him.

"You know, Shepard spent a lot on our gear. I think we should see just how good this stuff is."

"I doubt it will stand up to a hit from that ship."

Nihlus shrugged. "Maybe not, but I bet our guns will do more damage than what our forces are currently using."

"True. Nihlus, make your way around to the other side." Saren pointed at several soldiers around him. "You're with him. Maybe between the two of us we can get their attention. We need to give Shepard and Vakarian a chance to bring their heavier weapons to bear."

Nihlus nodded and pulled the pistol off his hip and offered it to one of the turians assigned to him. She gave him a dubious look.

"Sir, no offense but I don't think that will do much against that ship."

"I bet it packs a better punch than what you currently have."

She nodded and took it. Nihlus led the small group out and around to the opposite side of the ship. Saren watched as they disappeared into the dark. He unhooked the rifle, now glad that he had taken one for himself. He looked at the soldiers remaining.

"Which of you is the best shot?"

They looked between each other for a moment before one stepped forward.

"I was the best in my unit before the war, sir."

"Good, take this. I don't know if it will do more damage, but it should get their attention."

Saren thrust the rifle out at him. The soldier took it, almost afraid to.

"Sir?"

Saren waved him off. "I prefer my pistol. Now we give them something new to shoot at."

Saren stood up from behind the rock and aimed for the pilot. His soldiers followed his example. The canopy of the cockpit held, but it got the pilot's attention. The ship swung towards them and they dropped where they were as it opened fire on their position. But the other two groups were not idle. Gunfire erupted on two fronts now as both the snipers and Nihlus's band joined the fight. The ship darted upward, the bays holding its missiles swinging open.

"Get out of here! She's bringing her rockets online!" Saren barked out.

Everyone scattered. Saren had no chance to see whether or not the other groups made it out of the immediate area before explosions rocked the ground. Hunks of earth and vegetation rained around them as he and his people ran from the ship.

The hum of the engines broke the stillness of the night in the aftermath. The ship dove back down and hovered over the scene of destruction. Its lights flipped on as it checked for survivors. Saren broke cover and ran back the way they had just come. His soldiers were only a few steps behind him. He glanced back and from what he could see, his people had emerged unscathed. The ship's rockets must have been directed at one of the other groups.

"Get directly under it. The guns can't target you there!"

The ship continued its search, unaware or unconcerned that it had enemies under its belly. Looking up, he aimed for the pivot point on one wing and pulled the trigger. When the gun clicked, he ejected the heat sink, slammed another home, and continued shooting. His people followed his lead and that was enough to draw the attention of the ship, but it was too late. A bullet or possibly two damaged the joint controlling the thruster. The ship tried to maneuver away, but instead spiraled towards the ground. As it lost control, several turians were illuminated, including one with distinctive cream-colored markings, before it plowed into the earth.

"You," Saren said, pointing to those on his right. "Go look for our snipers." A talon flicked out at two individuals. "You two, watch for any sign of our enemies. The rest of you with me. That ship looked like it fell on top of a group of our soldiers."

* * *

Desolas and the Primarch stood waiting for news, any news. The earth trembled around them, a sign of the fight going on topside. Victus motioned for the runner currently on duty to approach him.

"Spirits! Get me a report on what in hell is going on up there."

"Yes, sir!"

She saluted and strode out and into the corridor. She was back far faster than she should have been.

"Sir! A rockslide has covered the entrance."

"Why didn't anyone notify us?" Desolas snarled.

"They are still assessing how much rock is blocking it."

Desolas flicked his hand towards the hall. "Make sure everyone is awake and all efforts are concentrated on removing the slide. Keep us informed."

"Yes, sir!"

A quick salute and she was gone again. Desolas rubbed his brow with one hand. They were trapped in here, while his brother and the others were outside. It had been a sound decision, but he regretted now that they had had to make it. A beep and a light flashed urgently on the QEC, drawing their attention.

"Get Sparatus in here while I answer this," Victus said.

Desolas saluted him and left to find the advisor. Victus squared his shoulders and took a deep breath before pushing the button on the machine. An image of Admiral Anderson appeared before him.

"Primarch, are you ready?"

Victus stepped onto the plate and nodded. He could hear gasps coming from the Admiral's side.

"Admiral, Councilors and members of the galactic community-" Victus began.

"What is the meaning of this," a woman's voice hissed.

He was glad the device had a translator built into it or this would have been a disaster with Shepard and the others trapped outside.

"The meaning of this," he replied, forcing his voice to remain calm, "is that no more will the treatment of the turian people go without notice by the rest of the galaxy. The asari have waged a war on my people for the prothean artifacts we have. They have killed us, imprisoned us and sold us as slaves. This will stop."

The room that Anderson was in erupted in shouting as so many of those there tried to give voice to their thoughts.

"Clear the room," the same woman said.

"No! The galaxy will know what has been done on Palaven by the asari in the name of your greed to control the knowledge left to us all by the protheans," Anderson said.

"You are not a member of the Council. You have no standing here," she replied.

"But I do," a new voice said. "As the salarian councilor I want to hear what is going on."

"You would stand against the asari?"

"These accusations explain your desire to see the batarians added to the council. I will know the truth."

"The truth, Councilor -," Victus paused.

"Valern, it's Valern."

"Thank you, Councilor Valern. The truth is that the asari came to my world and when we failed to let them see our artifacts, they began a war on us. Many of my people are interred in prison camps and I know some have even been sold as slaves, while many more have been lost in battle. A battle that is being waged right now on my planet. This must stop," Victus growled out.

Desolas and Sparatus returned just then. They moved up beside him and waited for an order.

"This is a fake. Turians are not intelligent creatures. The humans somehow staged this farce."

"Councilor Tevos, I figured you might say something like that. But perhaps in all the excitement you failed to realize that everyone in this room understood Primarch Victus. This is because Spectre Shepard managed to obtain a copy of their language and we pushed it across the galaxy," Anderson said.

"Impossible!" Tevos said.

"Incorrect," a new voice said. "Difficult, yes, but not impossible. Helped Shepard obtain this data. Interacted with turians on personal level, enjoyed working with them. Hope to do so again."

"Thank you, Doctor Solus," Valern said.

"Valern, I think we should meet in private to discuss this," Tevos said. Her voice tried to maintain the serenity her people were known for.

"Councilors, this needs to be dealt with here and now," Anderson stated. "The turians are no longer isolated and alone. We have forged an alliance with them and I know they have one with the krogan as well. I strongly suggest that Councilor Tevos contacts someone further up the chain of command to end this whole terrible situation."

"I need to retire and contact my legislature," Tevos said.

The slight quaver in her voice gave Victus some hope that perhaps this would be over soon. The sounds of people exiting and talking excitedly came through the machine, but all he could see was Anderson's face.

"Primarch, please stay nearby. I'm taking the QEC back to our ship and I'll confer with you there."

"Of course, Admiral. I will wait for your next call."

Anderson turned off the QEC and quickly motioned for the techs to gather up the device. He had nearly reached the door when one of the reporters who had been invited to the unveiling moved to stand in front of him.

"Admiral, a few words, please."

"And you are?"

"Emily Wong from FCC News."

"I'm sorry, Miss Wong, but I don't have time for interviews right now. There is more at stake here than ratings."

"Oh, I know. How in the world did you manage to get the other half of your new QEC to Palaven, a system I know is under quarantine?"

"No comment. Perhaps after all this is over, you can get your interview."

Anderson strode out of the room, his guard and techs close behind him. He kept one hand on his pistol as they made their way back to his ship. Although assassinating him now would only further enrage the galaxy, he wouldn't take any chances. Some of the tension left his body when he finally stepped foot on the deck of the _Tokyo_. He didn't stop until he reached the main conference room. His techs bustled about, getting the QEC up and running again. The techs left him once the machine was put back together. He activated it and stepped on the pad. After a few moments, the image of the Primarch appeared.

"Primarch, what's the situation on your end?"

"It is tense. We had a wave of armored vehicles and now there is a fight topside with some gunships. However, we do not know how that is going, as a rockslide has us trapped in here while some of our forces are up top fighting."

"Understood. Hackett informed me that the ground troops will be deployed shortly. They nearly have the ships around the relay dealt with. Hold on."

Victus snorted. "Waiting is all we can do until we can clear the entrance. I am more concerned for those trapped above ground. Your Shepard is among those."

Anderson nodded. "I'll make sure Hackett is aware of the situation. Anderson out."

He stepped off the pad and watched as the machine powered down, the lights dimming slowly on it. He scrubbed his face with one hand. If anyone could survive the situation on Palaven, it was Shepard.

**~My usual shout out to Mordinette for all her help, thank you! And a thank you to the readers, I'm delighted so many of you are enjoying this story, so thank you!~**


	21. Chapter 21

An aide came barreling into the conference room just as Anderson finished briefing Hackett on all the current events.

"Admiral! Councilor Valern is on a secure channel, he says he needs to talk to you, sir."

"Patch him through to here."

"At once, sir," she replied with a sharp salute.

An image of the salarian appeared on his console.

"Councilor," Anderson said with a nod.

"Admiral, although I had been informed of your intentions, I was skeptical. After all, getting even a smaller version of a working QEC through a system under guard seemed an impossible task."

Anderson smiled. "Well, let's just say that our new QEC is not the only innovation that made today possible. Do you have any word on what the asari plan to do next?"

Valern shook his head. "Not yet. You said that you have forged an alliance with the turians. What exactly did you mean?"

"We just finished breaking the blockade. Ground troops are being deployed. If the asari continue on this path we will fight for the freedom of every race in this galaxy, starting with the turians," Anderson said, his fists clenched at his side.

"The asari-"

"And the batarians," Anderson added.

"Yes, I've received reports that they are involved in the conflict on Palaven. I can understand what the turians are getting from this alliance, but I'm unsure what the humans hope to gain."

"Besides being the right thing to do? What was happening on Palaven needed to be brought out, lest we all suffer at the hands of a joint asari and batarian power grab. And what happens if either of them decide to take by force what another race already holds? No, it is in all of our interests to bring their alliance to a standstill and show the galaxy what they are really like. My question now is where do the salarians stand?"

Valern shifted his feet. "The dalatrasses have authorized me to side with the Alliance should the asari fail to agree to leave Palaven peacefully. They came to the same conclusion as you have: an asari-batarian alliance would be detrimental for the peace of the galaxy."

Anderson let out the breath he had been holding. Maybe with the salarians backing them, they would be able to convince the asari that they needed to end this now.

* * *

Saren stalked towards the wreckage and of course, that is when the rain started. Not a gentle rain, but a fierce summer storm complete with lightning. He snarled up at the sky when a bolt struck nearby. The earth that had been plowed up by all the fighting rapidly turned to mud in the heavy rain. They slid across the terrain as they made their way to where the ship had crashed. Those heading to find the team of snipers faired just as badly.

"I've got one," a turian shouted to his right.

Saren glanced over to see who it was. The turian helped up his fellow soldier and got them to their feet, but it wasn't Nihlus. Saren's heart had seized in his chest when he had gotten that brief glimpse of Nihlus's eyes, wide and fearful, in the light of the ship going down on top of him and his squad. He tore through the debris searching for a sign of Nihlus, something, anything. A few more survivors were found and a few dead as well, but still no sign of Nihlus. Only one place left to look, under the wreckage of the ship itself. He looked up to find several of his people waiting for a command.

"Help me lift this up," he said, his hand waving at the largest piece of the fuselage on the ground.

They joined him, and together they heaved the broken ship up enough for Saren to be able to look underneath. Several bodies lay under it, and while his people held it up, he grabbed the foot of the first one and dragged it out. Once out, he flipped the body over, but it wasn't the one he needed to find. He knelt down and found that she was still alive at least.

"Here, someone get her out of the way. There is at least one more still trapped underneath," he barked out.

A soldier moved up and dragged her out of the way. The metal dipped a little as the two holding it up began to tire. Saren got down on his belly and wormed his way underneath until he was able to grab a part of the turian still underneath, a hand it felt like. He tugged, but nothing happened. He snarled and pulled harder. The person groaned in pain but didn't budge. Working his way back out from under the broken ship, he stood up and looked around. The rain still came down furiously all around them, half blinding them all. He spotted three more of his people coming up towards where he stood, but without the one he desperately needed to find.

"Over here, now! We've got a live one trapped under here," he yelled, his voice breaking under the strain of trying to outdo the sound of the rain and thunder around them.

They hurried to his side. He pointed at two of them to help hold the wreckage up and the last he motioned to follow him. She was more slender than he was, perhaps she could reach in further than he could. They wiggled their way underneath until they were by the fallen turian. He was about to curse at the dark when he remembered his omni-tool. He flicked his talon across it, causing the device to come to life. The soft orange glow seemed bright under here and he found a tool on it that would act as a light source. He selected it and then rapidly dialed it down, as it was far too bright for the confined space. Now he could see that the left side of the turian was still trapped under part of the ship with their face turned towards the machine. The trapped turian began to cough and wheeze, from either the mud or rain, the conditions making it difficult for them to breathe.

"Turn their head; we need to make sure they don't inhale any mud or water."

She nodded and between the two of them, they got the face turned towards them. In the light, Saren could make out the face of his lover, even though it was splattered with mud and blood.

"Sir! Another ship is coming towards us," one of the turians currently holding up the ship said.

Saren tamped down the anger and rage flowing through his body. They needed to get Nihlus out of here, now.

"Can you lift it higher? His body is still partially trapped under the ship."

The metal groaned and it moved a little higher up.

"Grab his shoulder and pull with me," Saren ordered as he took hold of Nihlus's leg.

Together they heaved, but Nihlus only shifted a little. They needed more people to lift the ship up higher, but they were out of time. The next order he had to give was sure to destroy his soul.

"Get out of here," he snarled.

She looked surprised, but thankfully she didn't question his order. Saren followed her out from under the ship. He stood up and pulled out his pistol.

"Lower it as gently as you can while we deal with our enemies."

Saren closed his eyes and turned away from the sight of the ship being lowered back down onto Nihlus. If there was anything decent left in the world surely he would survive, but Saren had little hope there was any to be found. If the weight of the ship didn't kill him then the rain and mud would finish him off if they couldn't get rid of their enemies quickly enough. His people followed his lead, readying their weapons as they sought cover from this newest threat.

Even through the rain and the dark of the night, they got brief glimpses of the neon blue of a ship's engine heading towards them. Saren stared at it as it drew closer and closer. It was big - too big to be just a gunship. Rage and anger threatened to boil up inside of him and consume him. He forced it back down until it became a hard nugget of ice that cooled his blood and cleared his head.

"There is no more retreating. There is nowhere to go. We live or die here, but by the Spirits we will show them that_ we are turians_ to the end and we will make them pay for every step they have ever taken on our world."

The answering cry of the soldiers around him made him glad more than ever that Shepard had been able to return him to his people. He was likely going to die here, on this field of mud in the rain. Nihlus had most likely already joined the Spirits, but Saren would make sure they wouldn't take him alive this time and he would take as many of them as he could with him.

The ship slowed its approach as it neared where they waited. It hesitated; the field was in no shape for anyone to land anything close to the size of the ship that hovered over them now. Through the rain, they watched as a door was flung open, and the light coming from inside the vessel illuminated large shapes. Then those shapes leaped out and down onto the ground, landing with a heavy thud. Several slid as they fell in the mud. These were not asari or even batarians. There was only one species Saren had met that was that bulky, the krogan! He stood up and waved his people to stand down. His soldiers looked at him in disbelief as Saren left his cover to approach these new beings.

"Sir! You can't go out there," one hissed urgently at him.

"Stand down. I believe these are the krogan that were pledged to aid us."

Saren continued out towards the ship. One of the newcomers pointed in his direction as he spoke to one of his comrades. Saren was now close enough to see that they were indeed krogan and his feet moved faster towards them. If anyone could move a ship, surely it was these behemoths! One turned towards him, a large familiar set of scars running down his face.

"Wrex?"

"Saren? Ha! Looks like we missed all the fun. Where is Shepard?"

"I don't know, but I need that wreckage over there moved. Nihlus is trapped underneath."

"Right then."

Wrex motioned for several of his people to follow him and the three krogan followed behind Saren as he raced towards the destroyed gunship, slipping and sliding as he went. The krogan grunted as they heaved up the twisted piece of metal.

"Higher," Saren ordered even as he dropped down to try to reach Nihlus.

"You heard him. We don't want our new allies thinking we are a bunch of weak and soft asari, do we?" Wrex asked.

With a loud growl, the krogan lifted the piece until it was shoulder height. Their muscles strained to hold it there. Saren quickly pulled Nihlus out from underneath it and the krogan dropped it back down with a loud clang. He slid down in the mud beside him and found that he still breathed and a ragged breath of relief escaped him. The iciness that had gripped his body at the thought that he had lost Nihlus finally released its grip and he could breathe easily once more.

"We don't know where Shepard is; she and Vakarian were on a ledge. I sent a group to search for them, closer to the mouth of the cave," Saren said, one hand waving towards where the rest of his squad had gone.

"You two, stay here and keep an eye out for more asari," Wrex said, pointing at two of his people. "The rest of you follow me; we've got some more people to find."

"Wrex," Saren called out. "If your people have omni-tools, put them on to translate your language to turian."

"Of course. You heard the General, put your translators on. We don't want any misunderstandings."

There was some grumbling, but the orange glow of omni-tools glowed in the dark, bringing the faces of their owners to light. Saren heard some of his people gasp around him. Even though he wanted more than anything to stay by Nihlus and keep him safe, he knew his duty was to go along to make sure there were no problems between this first meeting of the two races. He pointed at one of the turians by his side.

"You, you're in charge. Keep an eye on our injured."

The turian saluted and took his place beside the fallen while Saren stumbled through the mud to catch up to the krogans.

"Wrex."

The big krogan stopped and waited for the turian to catch up.

"Where are the humans?"

"They couldn't drop their makos so they are driving them up to here."

Wrex clapped Saren on the shoulder. "Don't worry; you've got the krogan here now. Looks like we missed a helluva battle though."

"Shepard took out a squad of makos with the Cain."

"Dammit! I knew I should have gone with all of you."

Saren shook his head at the krogan's distress at missing some of the carnage.

"She took out an entire outpost with the thing."

"Ha! I would have loved to have seen the faces of the asari when they went to find out what happened to their camp."

They arrived at where the ledge had been. The rocks now lay strewn all over, including over the entrance to the cave. The search team looked up and drew their weapons at the arrival of these new aliens. Saren quickly moved in front of the group.

"Put them down. These are our allies and they are here to help us."

The turians saluted and put away their guns, unease still evident in every movement they made. With the added muscle of the krogan, the rubble was cleared far faster than the turians could have done alone. The first thing they found was the misshapen remains of the Cain. Wrex growled a little louder at the sight of the weapon he had coveted for a long time. But if the Cain was here, then Shepard should not be far. They all dug a little harder and their reward was a pocket amongst some of the rocks that held two bodies curled together for protection. Wrex shoved the others aside so he could reach down and gently touch the side of the woman's face. Her skin was warm to the touch and her eyes opened and blinked in the light of all the omni-tools.

"Wrex?"

"Shepard," he said, his relief at finding them alive contained in that one word. "You broke the damn Cain, and I never even got to fire it!"

Amala gave a weak laugh that turned into a cough, which woke up the turian beside her, his blue eyes blinking rapidly in the light as he gazed up at all the faces peering down at them.

"Blame the asari; they shot a rocket at us."

"And it's a mystery how you survived that," Wrex laughed.

"Clean living. Though I think my arm is broken. What about you, Garrus?"

"Yeah, definitely think an arm is broken as well, and my head hurts, too."

"Well that's cause you've gone and broken some of those damn spiky things on your head."

Garrus tried to use the arm not underneath him to reach back to feel his head, but instead a hiss of pain escaped him.

"Yep, broken. Crap. You guys just going to stand around looking at us or are you going to help get us out of here?" he growled out.

Wrex started laughing once the two occupants had been lifted out, for there in between where they had been were the two sniper rifles belonging to Shepard and Vakarian.

"Oh sure, you go and save your precious rifles, but not my Cain!"

Shepard laughed. "Sorry Wrex. If it helps, I got to fire it a couple of times."

"I heard. I miss all the fun."

**~A thank you to Mordinette for being my beta and willingness to discuss stories at odd hours, thank you! And another thank you to the readers, it always makes me happy to see so many people enjoying my story!~**


	22. Chapter 22

The rain slowed and finally stopped, dropping their discomfort only a little bit. Amala and Garrus sat off to one side while they watched the krogan finally make some headway at clearing the entrance into the underground bunker. Garrus looked at the horizon and then back to Amala.

"The sun will be up in a few hours."

"I know. Even if they find my helmet, I doubt it would be in any kind of shape to use."

Garrus gestured with his one good hand towards a stand of trees. "The rest of the injured are over there, and under the trees will give you a little more protection."

Amala groaned. "That entails moving again. I swear everything hurts now that we are finally out."

He snorted a small laugh. "I know. When we were trapped and trying not to think of all the rocks on top of us and how we didn't even know if anyone was still alive to look for us, the pain didn't seem so bad. But now that we are out, I don't think there is a part of me that doesn't hurt."

Amala struggled to her feet. Garrus sighed before he pushed himself upright. Amala gave him a grin.

"I did learn one thing underneath all that rubble; I had no idea turians had such a bad sense of humor."

He shook his head with a laugh. "Oh, you can't blame that on being a turian. My sister will tell you I have the worst sense of humor ever."

"I guess that doesn't say much about mine, since I laughed anyway."

They stumbled through the mud until they reached the grove of trees where a lone guard stood watch over his fallen comrades. She dropped down next to one with a familiar face.

"Crap. What happened to Nihlus?" Amala asked.

"We found him under the wreckage of one of the gunships."

"Hold on, Nihlus. If the krogan are here, the Alliance can't be far behind," Amala said, laying a hand on his arm.

The rumbling sound of vehicles getting closer had everyone scrambling for cover, well, except the krogan. They pulled their shotguns out and stood like a wall between this new threat and their new allies. Hands pointed out the team of makos coming up the path that had been created earlier. The vehicles didn't open fire though, and stopped on the edge of the clearing. The hatch lifted on the foremost vehicle and a human popped out of it. Saren strode forward to meet the newcomer, Wrex right behind him.

"You are with the Alliance, correct?" Saren asked.

"Yes, sir. Wait, I met you on Arcturus. I was one of your escorts, Lt. Vega."

"General Arterius," Saren said with a nod of his head. He had thought the human sounded familiar. "Do you have any medics that might be able to help our wounded? We are currently digging out the entrance to the rest of our people, but we have some in need of immediate assistance."

Vega nodded and activated his comm. "Admiral Hackett, it's Vega. We've joined up with the krogan and turians. No sign of the asari, so far. They've got wounded, but can't reach their own medics at this time."

Vega listened for a moment before turning his attention to those before him.

"Medical personnel and supplies are en route."

"What about gunships for support?"

"Ah, well, we had some with us, but now they are busy chasing down some asari ships that were heading this way."

Saren looked past the makos, hoping to see some sign of the ship bringing medical help, but even the sun coming over the horizon didn't show him what he wanted most. His eyes drifted over to where Nihlus lay, several other familiar figures keeping him company at least. He wished he could do the same thing, but he was still needed to be the leader in the middle of his people working with their new allies. Sighing, he turned and headed back to continue working on clearing the rubble from the cave entrance.

The krogan seemed to thrive on the challenge of moving huge pieces of rock, as they challenged each other to who could move the most. It was a competition that Wrex encouraged, since it kept the fighting to a minimum. Saren almost wished the asari would show their faces now; killing a few would only begin to pay back what he owed them.

The hum of a shuttle as it approached their location brought all their heads up. The logo on the side of the vessel proclaimed it Alliance; he had seen it many times while they were on Arcturus station and even on the _Normandy_. It dropped gently down towards the ground, but the doors flew open even before it finished landing. Several humans and salarians jumped out of the vessel, carrying supplies of some sort.

Saren was in motion as soon as he had spotted the vehicle trying to land. A human female (his best guess as they were all in environmental suits) was the first out of the vehicle and he took her as the one in charge. He gestured with one hand to where Nihlus and the others were.

"Our wounded are over there."

"I'm Dr. Chakwas. Dr. Solus forwarded to us all his data and is available for consult as well."

Saren's eyes drifted to gaze at the mixed group. "He didn't come with you?"

"No, he felt he could be of more use at the Council meeting."

They reached the trees and the doctors spread out amongst the fallen as they tried to establish a triage order. A shout brought Saren's attention back towards where the others were working. A turian waved urgently at him.

"Sir! The entrance is uncovered!"

The human looked up at him. "You have a hospital inside?"

Saren shook his head. "That would be overstating it by a lot. We have a place set aside for our wounded, but regardless it would be safer in there than out here."

"Agreed. We have gurneys in the shuttle. We can use them to transport them inside."

Saren uttered a whistle that drew the eyes of the turians. As soon as he had their attention, he pointed at the shuttle.

"In that shuttle there are some stretchers, get them and bring them here. We need to get our wounded into the cave."

The turians leapt at his orders and between the doctors and his own people, a line of the injured crawled towards the entrance. A blanket had been thrown over Shepard's head in a bid to protect her from the sun that was beginning to blaze across the sky. Vakarian was beside her, trying to help her navigate across the terrain as best as he could with his one good arm.

Vakarian, Spirits, it was probably a good thing that he was so taken with the human because he was a wreck now. Shepard didn't seem to care about his now rather ragged fringe. Some traditions were harder to break than others, since in times long past when turians had gone to war on each other, breaking the fringe of their defeated enemy had been the cruelest humiliation they had routinely used on each other. Even then, it was considered better to die than to admit defeat. Although his fellow turians would look on him with pity, they would never say anything to him directly. He had proven himself a survivor, a capable soldier, and a friend to the human who had turned the tide of war for the turian people. But it would take some time for them to get used to the sight of his fringe.

Saren's thoughts were disrupted by the groan of the occupant of the stretcher he was walking next to: Nihlus. He looked down, his breath caught in his throat as he dared to hope to see those green eyes open once more. His breath left him in a whoosh when he found that they were.

"Saren?" Nihlus asked, his voice soft and filled with pain.

"Shh, you'll be okay. The Alliance is here and they brought supplies and doctors. You're safe now."

Nihlus closed his eyes with a soft sigh. Saren tore his eyes away from watching him when he heard his name rang out. He looked up to find his brother heading towards him. Desolas clapped him on the shoulder and then noticed who was on the gurney.

"Oh, no. Spirits, what happened?"

"Gunship crashed on top of him," Saren said, trying not to think about the fact that by his own orders he had had the others lower the ship back down on him again.

"Go with him. The Primarch is ordering all of you to stand down anyway. I will take the watch now."

Saren nodded gratefully. "The large human over there, he is the point of contact for the Alliance - Lt. Vega. The large krogan in the red armor over there, the one with the large scars running down his face - he is Urdnot Wrex, the leader of the krogan."

"I will talk with them. Go, rest."

He wasn't sure when he arrived inside their makeshift hospital, but suddenly they weren't moving anymore and all he could do was drop to his knees beside Nihlus. The doctors quickly set about making a section of the area into a clean room, sending others to fetch yet more equipment from the shuttle. Once the little area had been curtained off, Chakwas came for Nihlus.

"How bad is he?" Saren asked, his talons gently tracing the back of Nihlus's hand.

"He has internal bleeding and some broken bones. I'm optimistic he will make it, though. Does he have any family?"

"No, yes - he has me."

"Fine, I'll ask you then. We have an experimental technique we think will help him heal faster. If it works, his bones should mend faster and they will be stronger than before. Are you okay with us using this on him?"

"What are the risks?"

"Worst case, his body rejects it and we have to go in and remove the weave. Otherwise it should have minimal risk."

It only took a moment for Saren to answer. "Do it."

* * *

"We've lost all contact with our ground teams?" Tevos exclaimed at the hologram before her.

"Yes, Councilor. The Alliance has deployed comm buoys of their own, but I have no doubt that if we try to use them they will be able to intercept any messages on them. Especially since it seems the salarians have deployed their STG to that system as well."

Tevos rubbed her forehead. "What is the wish of the Matriarchs?"

"You must make formal statements saying that the asari people were trying to help the turians utilize their artifacts to their fullest, but a misunderstanding caused this terrible mess."

Tevos looked at her contact in disbelief. "You honestly think anyone will buy that load of varren shit?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Tell the same story enough times and it will put a seed of doubt into the minds of the common people. That's all we need. Extend an offer to the Primarch, goods and technicians to help him rebuild his world. That will give us a second chance to try and find their artifacts."

"I doubt he will want any asari on his planet."

"Sell it to him. Our people are some of the best artisans in the galaxy, doesn't he want the best?"

Tevos paced back and forth for a moment.

"If you can't do this, the Matriarchs will replace you and the blame will be placed firmly on your head."

"My fault! You were tasked with eliminating Shepard, and you failed. If it is anyone's fault it is yours," Tevos said, one hand waving at the hologram.

"Spectres are hard to kill for a reason; they are chosen from the best. Finding mercs who are willing to take one on are in short supply. And trying to track her movements was nearly impossible. Her transmissions are routed all over the galaxy; I had to wait for visual confirmation for her actual location and by the time we got there, she would be gone again. I hired some of the best to hack into her ship and they couldn't."

"You should have given the assignment to another Spectre then," Tevos growled out.

"It wasn't my call. The Matriarchs felt that adding another Spectre to the equation might give Shepard another ally. And if she survived then she could call the Council out on sending a fellow Spectre to take her down. No, it was better to have as little a trail as possible back to us."

Tevos hung her head. "I'll begin the damage control at once."

The hologram before her nodded and then fizzled out, leaving the asari alone once more.

**~Thanks to Mordinette for all her help, thank you! And I'm happy the readers are still enjoying this, so thank you as well!~**


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